KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust: Fall 2026 Update on Vaccine Views Authors: Isabelle Valdes, Shannon Schumacher, Mardet Mulugeta, Ashley Kirzinger, and Liz Hamel Published: Oct 20, 2026

https://www.kff.org/public-opinion/kff-tracking-poll-on-health-information-and-trust-fall-2026-update-on-vaccine-views/?utm_campaign=Polling%2FSurveys&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--XkvKBRUFtUa-AqeVqrFMB3xx2QblAku_TplTn23nkpYmRVFErJOJPJXXBVh4qTxBm8C1eJIH-KgXsZgHn1iUEBzZmyw&_hsmi=445140301&utm_content=445140301&utm_source=hs_email Poll: About Half of Parents Mistakenly Believe Spacing Out Vaccines Is Healthier for Children, Even as Most Remain Confident in MMR and Other Long-Standing Vaccines About half of parents (48%) incorrectly say children are healthier when vaccines are spaced out and they do not get multiple shots in one visit, according to a new KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust. These findings take on new relevance following President Trump's recent executive order calling for changes in U.S. childhood vaccine recommendations, including splitting the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine—currently given as a single combined shot—into three separate vaccines across multiple visits. The remaining half of parents (52%) says there is no strong evidence to support the claim that spacing out vaccines is healthier for children, though awareness varies by partisanship. About 7 in 10 Republican and Republican-leaning parents (69%) say it is healthier to space out children’s vaccines and a similar share of Democratic and Democratic-leaning parents (68%) say there’s no evidence to support this claim. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, there is no evidence that giving multiple vaccines at once is worse for children’s health, though KFF polling has found concerns about doing so are among the top reasons parents report skipping or delaying vaccinations. Despite the public’s misconceptions, confidence in long-standing childhood vaccines remains high, with large majorities of the public and parents across party lines confident that the polio and MMR vaccines are safe for children. Even among supporters of the MAHA movement, three-quarters are confident that polio and MMR vaccines are safe for children. Views of COVID-19 vaccine safety are more polarized, as has been the case in KFF polling since the vaccines were introduced in 2021.