Majority of Americans Against Mandatory COVID19 Vaccinations for Public School Children

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, most Americans don’t think public schools should require students to get COVID-19 vaccinations, and have concerns about whether the vaccines are safe for children.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey, co-sponsored by Miranda Devine’s new book Laptop from Hell – available November 30th, finds that 35% of American Adults believe public schools should make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for students, while 55% are against requiring students to get vaccinated. Ten percent (10%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

The Food and Drug Administration last month approved COVID-19 vaccines for children as young as five years old, but 60% of Americans say they are concerned about the safety of COVID-19 vaccination for children, including 39% who are Very Concerned. Thirty-five percent (35%) are not concerned about vaccine safety for children, including 17% who are Not At All Concerned.

There is a remarkable political division over requiring COVID-19 vaccination for children. Sixty-one percent (61%) of Democrats want to make the vaccine mandatory for public school students, but that opinion is shared by only 17% of Republicans and 24% of those affiliated with neither major party. Seventy-seven percent (77%) of Republicans and 61% of the unaffiliated are against a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for public school students, as are 31% of Democrats.

The survey of 1,000 U.S. American Adults was conducted on November 4 and 7, 2021 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

More Republicans (78%) than Democrats (46%) or unaffiliateds (61%) are concerned about the safety of COVID-19 vaccination for children.

Among Americans who are opposed to making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for public school students, 82% are concerned about the safety of COVID-19 vaccination for children, including 59% who are Very Concerned.

More blacks (67%) and other minorities (66%) than whites (57%) are concerned about the safety of COVID-19 vaccination for children. However, blacks (46%) are less likely than whites (55%) or other minorities (58%) to oppose making vaccination mandatory for public school students.

More women (42%) than men (37%) are Very Concerned about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines for children, but women under 40 are less concerned than older women.

Americans with children at home are more likely than their childless counterparts to oppose making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for public school students.

Those with incomes of $100,000 a year or more are more likely than lower-income Americans to support mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for public school students.

Those 65 and older are more likely than younger Americans to support requiring public school students to get the COVID-19 vaccine.