Just over three-in-ten continue to believe the debunked idea that there is a connection between the MMR vaccine and autism.
Vancouver, BC [October 16, 2024] – Practically three-in-ten Canadians are opposed to a mandate related to childhood vaccinations, a new Research Co. poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative national sample, 29% of Canadians think parents “definitely” or “probably” should be the ones deciding on whether their children should be vaccinated, up nine points since a similar Research Co. poll conducted in March 2022.
Just over two thirds of Canadians (67%, -8) say vaccinations for children should “definitely” or “probably” be mandatory in their province.
Support for allowing parents to decide on vaccinations for children is highest in Alberta (34%, +18), followed by Quebec (31%, +16), Saskatchewan and Manitoba (30%, +11), British Columbia (also 30%, +9), Ontario (28%, +3), and Atlantic Canada (also 28%, +3).
In the late 1990s, a study published in the weekly medical journal The Lancet—which has since been discredited and retracted—attempted to link childhood vaccination and autism.
More than three-in-ten Canadians (31%, +12) believe there is a connection between the childhood vaccine for Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) and autism.
“The long-debunked nation of a link between childhood vaccinations and autism is a reality for two-in-five Canadians aged 18-to-34 (40%),” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “Fewer Canadians aged 35-to-54 (36%) and aged 55 and over (19%) hold the same misguided belief.”
Almost three-in-five Canadians (59%, +8) think everyone should be allowed to decide if they want to get vaccinations for seasonal diseases, while almost two-in-five (38%, -3) think the flu vaccine should be mandatory in their province.
Canadians who voted for the Liberal Party in 2021 are more likely to support a mandate for the flu vaccine in their province (46%) than those who cast ballots for the New Democratic Party (NDP) (41%) or the Conservative Party (32%) in the last federal election.
Methodology: Results are based on an online survey conducted from October 7 to October 9, 2024, among 1,001 adults in Canada. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region. The margin of error, which measures sample variability, is +/- 3.1 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty.
Find our data tables here and download the press release here.
For more information on this poll, please contact:
Mario Canseco, President, Research Co.
778.929.0490
[e] mario.canseco@researchco.ca