Most Americans support mandatory vaccinations despite some claims they can cause autism or other conditions.
Reuters news service and market research company Ipsos conducted a poll, showing 78 percent of Americans support mandatory vaccinations of children, except in cases where vaccines could be harmful to individual patients. The survey also showed that just 13 percent of respondents are opposed to such mandates. According to pollsters, 71 percent of Americans believe that schools should be allowed to suspend students during disease outbreaks if the children have not been vaccinated.
Around 38 percent of subjects in the study hold the opinion that parents should be allowed to decide whether or not to vaccinate their children, while 44 percent believe inoculations should be mandatory.
Most opposition to mandatory vaccinations was found in western states, where 17 percent of people are against inoculations.
Many people in the survey who stated they were opposed to universal vaccinations identified as political independents, but lean toward Republican or Tea Party positions, the survey revealed.
The opinion "does appear to be correlated with what I'd call libertarian or anti-authority tendencies and sentiment," Julia Clarke, a pollster with Ipsos, said.
Young people were less likely to support mandatory vaccines than older respondents.
Opinions about vaccines could also have an impact on upcoming elections. About 42 percent of Americans said a politician's stance on mandatory vaccines would make a difference in their voting decision, while 35 percent said it would not.
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who also works as an ophthalmologist, recently said he knows of cases where vaccines have caused brain disorders. Proponents of mandatory inoculations state that such claims have been disproven by researchers. The Kentucky senator is considered a potential front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.
Another likely candidate for the Oval Office, New Jersey governor Chris Christie, told the press parents should be provided a "measure of choice" about vaccinations. A spokesman later told reporters the governor supports inoculations to battle measles. That disease was not seen in the United States after the year 2000 until December, when an outbreak spread in California. That disease has now been diagnosed in 154 people so far, and has resulted in the death of a toddler in Berlin, Germany.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is now diagnosed in one out of every 68 American children, up from one on 88 measured just two years ago. The condition varies by state, with the lowest rates seen in Alabama, and the highest in New Jersey. Such a dramatic increase has led many parents to believe additional cases are due to vaccine programs.
The survey interviewed 6,012 American adults between February 4 and 23.
