Professor James Druckman finds increasing support for school vaccination mandates

COVID-19 vaccines for children under 12 are expected to be approved this fall, and Political Science Professor James Druckman found that, overall, Americans are feeling more inclined to vaccinate their kids.

Druckman is a member of a university consortium called The COVID States Project, which includes researchers from Northwestern, Northeastern, Harvard and Rutgers. The researchers surveyed more than 20,000 Americans to measure shifts in vaccine acceptance since the time of their initial FDA approval.

Though the researchers found that Americans have become more accepting of vaccinations as a whole, they also discovered resistance remains high among young mothers and mothers of young children.

“This could create a complex scenario in schools with uneven vaccination rates within and across classes,” said Druckman. “The finding though also provides some insight into a particular population (e.g., mothers of young children) that needs to be explored further to understand their specific concerns.”

The study also found that Asian American parents are the most accepting of the vaccine, followed by white democrats, Hispanic democrats and Black democrats. Black parents have become substantially less resistant to vaccinating their kids, but many remain hesitant partially due to stronger mistrust of government and healthcare institutions.

James Druckman

Additionally, support for school vaccine mandates has grown from 54.4% to 61.3%. Americans who are more liberal, educated, higher income and urban are more likely to support school vaccine mandates, but support has grown in both political parties.

Read more about the report in Northwestern Now. Read the full report here.