Measles Vaccine Promotion Scares Some Parents Away

Campaigns designed to convince parents that vaccinating their child for deadly disease may in-fact be scaring some parents away, according to a new study.

Even in the wake of last month's alarming sting of measles exposures in the U.S., parents across he globe still refuse to have their children immunized for the disease. This is often because of the unfounded belief that the MMS vaccine, designed for measles, mumps, and rubella, has a chance of causing autism in children.

To combat this, the U.S. Centers for the Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) have launched campaigns in their respective countries trying to convince parents that vaccination is the best route to take in the interest of their children's health. However, according to a study recently published in Pediatrics, vaccine promotion campaigns might actually be dissuading doubtful parents even more.

To measure how parents react to immunization promotion campaigns, a two-wave survey experiment was sent to over 1700 U.S. parents with a child 17 years old or younger. The survey first measured each parents original disposition towards vaccinations -- particularly the MMS vaccine -- through a series of questions. The same participants were then sent one of four reading materials, and were asked to read it before taking a follow-up survey at a later date.

According to the study, some parents were sent information provided by the CDC that debunk rumors about the MMR vaccine causing autism. Two other groups were sent reading material or images that conveyed the dangers a measles infection poses to children. A final group was sent unrelated reading material.

Amazingly, while most parents provided with material about the MMR vaccine were found to be more likely to vaccinate their children by the time of the follow-up survey, the parents already skeptical of the safety of the MMR vaccine reported being even less likely to vaccinate their children after reading pro-vaccination material.

In their concluding statements, the authors of the study admit that they don't necessarily know what this means for public health offices trying to encourage vaccinations. Measles outbreaks are largely gone in the U.K., and even instances of exposure in the U.S. can only be caused as the result of international travel, according to the CDC. Still, if parents continue to stubbornly stand by their initial beliefs, health organizations may have to wait for a mass outbreak to convince parents to vaccinate -- something the researcher say would "too costly."

The study was published in Pediatrics on March 3.