• A national survey shows that many parents do not believe their children are at risk in the pandemic and don’t plan to have them vaccinated.

• Only 40 percent of parents surveyed intend to get their children vaccinated.

• Vaccinating schoolchildren, the primary spreaders of viruses, is at the core of the CDC’s pandemic response plan.

• The full survey (link below) shows that Hispanic parents are more likely than black or white parents to have children vaccinated.

Los Angeles Times

“Germ-spreading schoolchildren are expected to be the focus of a massive U.S. vaccination campaign against the novel H1N1 flu.

“But if their parents are hearing the rallying cry to have their kids vaccinated, they’re not buying it, says a new national survey.

“In a poll of 1,678 U.S. parents conducted by the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, 40% said they would get their children immunized against the H1N1 virus — even as 54% indicated they would get their kids vaccinated against regular seasonal flu.

“Among those who said they do not intend to have their kids vaccinated against H1N1, almost half — 46% — indicated they’re not worried about their children becoming ill with the pandemic virus. Twenty percent said they do not believe the H1N1 flu is a serious disease.”

Source: Los Angeles Times, September 26, 2009

Source: Survey, University of Michigan, C.S. Mott Hospital, National Survey on Children’s Health, September 24, 2009