- The number of kids going to school with a vaccine waiver is the highest since 2013.
- Differing recommendations from health officials are contributing to parents’ confusion around vaccine safety and efficacy.
- Some researchers have found that in Michigan fear and accessibility to health care providers are also contributing factors to parents' vaccine hesitancy.
Today, more children in Michigan are attending school with a vaccine waiver than there have been since 2013.
While schools in Michigan are required to make sure all students receive six different vaccines, including measles, rubella and polio, parents can opt their kid out of vaccines for pretty much any reason.
“Vaccine hesitancy is nothing new,” explained Kristin Hedges, professor of anthropology at Grand Valley State University. “Whenever there was a mandate for a vaccine, there was more pushback against it.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hedges spent time interviewing people in West Michigan to understand what may be driving vaccine hesitancy rates up.
Fear is a big part of the reason why people opt for these vaccine waivers, and sometimes that fear is not irrational, she said.
“When we look at communities of color and what's happened with health care systems [historically] and actually having a large background of not having trust for valid reasons,” Hedges said.
For example, the 20th-century Tuskegee Syphilis Study, in which researchers intentionally withheld treatment from hundreds of Black men to study the disease's progression, is one example of a historical abuse that could impact whether Black Americans today trust the efficacy of vaccinations.
“It's also about cost and availability,” Hedges said. “Like, do people have insurance? Do they have coverage? And even if they have coverage, are they able to easily access an appointment to get vaccinated?”
On top of that, communities in Michigan are receiving opposing recommendations from officials, creating a splintering effect across the state.
On one hand, President Donald Trump is promoting new vaccine guidance through a recent executive order that cuts the number of recommended vaccines for children from 17 to 11. Meanwhile, Michigan’s vaccine recommendations have remained the same.
“When we are talking about school exemptions, it comes down to parents, and when they are worried about a vaccine, they are going for that exemption because there’s fear there,” Hedges said. “And now, we don’t even have clear recommendations across the country to follow.”
For the first time in more than two decades, the United States has experienced the highest number of measles cases. That's as Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy has continued to tout flawed, non-peer-reviewed research to claim a link between the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine and autism.
“The paradox here is that vaccines did such a good job for a while that people didn’t see the virus,” she said. “And when they don’t see people sick with it, then it's like, why should I put my child or myself at risk if it doesn’t feel real sick.”
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Hedges explained, conversations about vaccines have also become increasingly polarized, creating silos between people who support vaccination and those who oppose it. In February, Michigan Republican lawmakers proposed a vaccination rights bill to continue to allow for parents to request vaccine waivers for any medical, religious or philosophical exemption.
“There’s an assumption that maybe they’re [vaccine skeptics] uneducated, and that's not true,” she said. “All of those parents have put time and research into understanding vaccines, and they’re trying to understand what’s the best choice for their kids.”
For Hedges, addressing vaccine hesitancy starts with health officials creating space for parents to be heard and to ask the questions they may not have felt comfortable asking.
“What’s really needed is listening and empathy and the ability for a lot of parents, those who are hesitant and have concerns, they need to have those questions answered,” Hedges said.
