Do Parents Understand Immunizations? A National Telephone Survey

Immunization may now be undervalued because vaccines have largely eliminated the threat of serious infectious diseases in childhood. As the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases has declined, concern about vaccine safety has increased. Significant erosion of public confidence in vaccine safety could lead to reduced immunization rates and a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases. To assess parents' understanding of vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccines, immunization practices, and policies, we conducted a telephone survey in the United States with a nationally representative sample (n = 1600) of parents with children