Vaccines and trust in government
Trump and the GOP are harming our children and our nation
Trust in government
It all started with Ronald Reagan’s 1981 inaugural address where he stated “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Fast forward to 2025 and we have a large share of our population that simply doesn’t trust its own government. The percentage of Americans who believe their government does the right thing “always or most of the time” has gone from 40% to 22% in that timeframe. And the differences between party affiliation is large - close to 40% of Democrats trust the government while only 10% of Republicans hold this view. And this has enormous ramifications for many things - include the safety of our children.
Vaccine rates and hesitancy
Knowledge and hesitancy about vaccines is partisan. When Republicans were asked whether they care more about the health risks of vaccines or the benefits of vaccines, 51% of Republicans said they care more about the risks and 49% cared more about the benefits. For Democrats only 24% cared more about the risks while 76% cared more about the benefits. And while 85% of Democrats think the MMR vaccine should be mandatory, only 57% of Republicans had this stance. And while it is a FACT that vaccines do not cause autism, 38% of Republicans don’t believe this to be true (only 7% of Democrats hold this view).
Putting the two together
Studies have shown that trust in government is strongly associated with vaccine acceptance and can contribute to public compliance with recommended vaccine protocols. This is true across countries. One study analyzed survey data from 113 countries and found that lower levels of trust in government was a strong predictor of vaccine hesitancy. Importantly, the most robust effects were related to trust in health institutions and conspiracy mentality. So, when you have someone who doesn’t trust the government, who is told that health institutions such as the CDC can’t be trusted, AND you have a conspiracy mindset - that is a dangerous cocktail of misinformation.
The results of misinformation
The share of kindergarten children up to date on their state-required vaccinations continues to decline and almost three-quarters of states had measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccination rates below the “target” rate (95%) that would result in herd immunity.
At the same time, the share of kindergarten children with a vaccine exemption has increased nationally and for most (36) states. Te states now have vaccine exemption rates over 5%, meaning it’s not even possible for those states to reach coverage rates at or above 95%. Higher exemption rates are also associated with lower vaccination coverage, meaning states with more children claiming exemptions report lower vaccination coverage rates.
The bottom line
Unwavering trust in one’s own government is not a good thing. On the other hand, wholesale distrust of our federal institutions results in all sorts of bad outcomes. One of them is a decrease in vaccinations. To be very clear, this is very dangerous for our children and for our society. Full stop.