Vaccinating children is a highly debated topic, with some parents arguing for their right to make decisions regarding their children's health and others citing public safety as a reason for vaccination.
In "Medscape Vaccine Acceptance Report 2016," Medscape polled 1,551 health professionals on their perceptions about vaccine hesitation and patient refusals to vaccinate at their practice.
Here are nine things to know:
1. Forty-six percent of respondents reported vaccine acceptance has increased, compared to 42 percent of respondents in 2015.
2. Nearly 33 percent of respondents have not seen any change in parents' willingness to accept vaccination in their children.
3. Of those who have perceived a rise in vaccine acceptance, 72 percent attribute that change to more general concerns about infectious diseases and 53 percent said it was the fear of children contracting vaccine-preventable diseases. Forty-five percent attributed the uptrend in acceptance to denied admission to school, day care or camp.
4. Twelve percent of respondents reported there is less accpetance in children's vaccinations. Of that figure, 77 percent of respondents say a decline in vaccine acceptance is due to a fear of vaccination's link to autism spectrum disorder, with 71 percent attributing the decline to the added ingredients in vaccines.
5. Nearly 70 percent claim the downtrend of acceptance is due to parents worrying their children will suffer other complications from the vaccine, with only 8 percent citing a cost or lack of insurance coverage for not vaccinating.
6. Sixty-one percent of respondents said families are most likely to refuse or request an alternate for the HPV vaccination, followed by influenza (39 percent). Seventy-one percent of respondents said parents underutilize the HPV vaccination because they do not believe their children are at risk for acquiring a sexually transmitted infection.
7. To get more families to vaccinate, 63 percent claimed providing evidence-based responses to concerns is the best approach, followed by telling parents that you would vaccinate your own children on a recommended schedule (52 percent).
8. Ninety percent of respondents said they accept children that are not vaccinated on the recommended schedule.
9. Seventy percent of respondents believe there needs to be better information from the public media to encourage more widespread vaccine acceptance.
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