The Ohio Chapter American Academy of Pediatrics released a statewide poll concerning support for childhood vaccines, in partnership with the Bowling Green State University Democracy and Public Policy Research Network. You can read the news release here, and below is some news coverage of the poll results.
The poll reveals that the majority of Ohioans support childhood vaccines and trust vaccine guidance from their pediatrician or family doctor.
More Ohioans want their kids vaccinated than not, poll shows
The Columbus Dispatch
Vast majority of Ohioans want their kids vaccinated, new data shows
Samantha Hendrickson Columbus Dispatch Jan. 21, 2026
A new poll shows most Ohioans support childhood vaccines despite a rise in anti-vaccine rhetoric.
The majority of Ohioans polled trust their pediatrician or family doctor for vaccine information.
But confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine is significantly lower than for traditional vaccines like MMR and polio.
Despite the rise of anti-vaccine rhetoric since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, new data shows that the vast majority of Ohioans support childhood vaccines and trust their doctors.
The Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), in partnership with the Bowling Green State University Democracy and Public Policy Research Network, conducted a statewide poll of 800 voters between Oct. 2 and Oct. 14, 2025. The poll was conducted using 2025 vaccine guidelines, not the most recent federal changes on Jan. 6.
Health experts in Ohio and across the country have expressed concern over mixed messages from the federal government and online misinformation dominating much of the conversation around childhood immunizations. In 2025, the U.S. had its worst measles outbreak in decades, with thousands of cases across the country and several outbreaks in Ohio.
Roughly 85% of Ohio's kindergarteners were vaccinated in the 2024-2025 school year, according to the Ohio Department of Health. That number has continued to drop since the 2019-2020 school year's 89.9% mark. It follows a national trend of declining vaccination rates, many of them due to religious or philosophical exemptions.
Still, the vast majority of those polled in Ohio are sticking with most medical professionals' recommendations when it comes to vaccinating their children, according to AAP's data.
"It's important to highlight that vaccine hesitancy is not the norm," said Dr. Vivek Ashok, a pediatrician with Cincinnati Children's Hospital, at a Jan. 20 press briefing.
87% of respondents think it is "very important" or "important" for parents to get their kids vaccinated.
89% said they were "very confident" or "confident" that their pediatrician or family doctor provides them with the information they need to make informed decisions about vaccines.
Dipping a little lower, 75% of respondents believe that parents should be required to have their children vaccinated against preventable diseases.
Of that 75%, 88% said a major reason they support routine childhood vaccine requirements is because they think routine childhood vaccines are effective in protecting most children.
Of that 75%, 82% said routine childhood vaccines have been proven safe because they are well tested.
Of the 75%, 78% said a major reasons parents should be required to vaccinate their children is because vaccines have been proven safe because they have been around for decades.
Of the 75%, 85% said they support childhood vaccine requirements because they think diseases like measles will come back if routine childhood vaccines are no longer required.
However, only 43% of total respondents felt "very confident" or "confident" in the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine.
But 83% felt "very confident" or "confident" in the MMR, or measles, mumps and rubella, vaccine, and 85% in the polio vaccine.
88% of respondents said that health insurers, including government sponsored health insurers, should be required to pay for vaccines.
82% of respondents have heard about the benefits of vaccines for children, while only 55% of individuals have heard about the dangers.
83% of respondents "do not trust at all" or "only slightly trust" their social media feeds to provide reliable information about vaccines.
When looking at political demographics, Republicans tended to trust the COVID-19, MMR and polio vaccine less than Democrats. However, regardless of political affiliation, the majority of respondents are concerned about the resurgence of vaccine preventable diseases.
"If you look at our country 125 years ago, one in 5 children died before their fifth birthday," said Robert W. Frenck, director of the Vaccine Research Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. "It's almost incomprehensible in the United States to think of that... this is really due to public health, and a lot of that public health is vaccines."
Business and consumer issues reporter Samantha Hendrickson can be reached at shendrickson@dispatch.com
Ohioans support required childhood vaccinations, poll says | The Blade
The Blade
Ohioans support required childhood vaccinations, poll says
KIMBERLY WYNN The Blade kwynn@theblade.com Jan 20, 2026
A strong majority of parents support childhood vaccinations, according to a poll conducted Oct. 2-14 by the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
“Most Ohioans support childhood vaccines and trust their doctors, but confusion is driven by mixed messages,” said Dr. Vivek Ashok, a Cincinnati pediatrician.
Partnering with the Democracy & Public Policy Research Network at Bowling Green State University, the Ohio Chapter held a roundtable Tuesday to share the results of the survey of 800 state voters.
“I believe that parents want to do the right thing,” said Dr. Robert Frenck, Jr., medical director of adolescent immunizations for Ohio AAP, noting that the roundtable is another way to provide education and connection about the benefits of vaccination.
Ongoing public debate has left parents feeling overwhelmed, which is why the Ohio AAP conducted the poll, according to the panel of experts.
“If you look at our country 126 years ago, 20 percent of children died before their fifth birthday,” Dr. Frenck said. “We don't want to go back there again.”
Ohio parents seemed to agree. Eighty-seven percent said they think it is very important or important that parents get their kids vaccinated, according to the poll. Another 75 percent believe that childhood vaccinations should be required against preventable diseases.
“Everyone is concerned about measles coming back," said Dr. Douglas Fleck, a pediatrician in Ashtabula County. He noted the poll indicated parents felt vaccines were safe because they have been around for decades and they believe the prevalence of childhood diseases will return if immunization schedules are not followed.
In some ways, the vaccinations have become products of their own success, according to Dr. Eric Geyer, a supervising pharmacist in Cuyahoga County.
“People don’t know what it was like previously,” he said.
The panel of statewide experts agreed it is better to keep somebody healthy than to treat them after they are sick. They also underscored the fact that immunizations have always been a shared decision between parents and their pediatricians.
“We always use what is evidence based and what is safe and use that in conjunction with shared decision making,” Dr. Ashok said.
To maintain herd immunity for measles, a community needs about a 95 percent rate, according to the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Ohio kindergarten school immunization rate for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) was 88.3 percent for the 2024-2025 school year. The rate was 84.2 percent in Lucas County and 92.9 percent in Wood County, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
First Published January 20, 2026, 5:14 p.m.