Women of childbearing age more doubtful about safety of flu, Covid-19 vaccines during pregnancy

PHILADELPHIA – With a vaccine on the horizon for RSV, respiratory syncytial virus, that is designed to protect pregnant people and their fetuses, new survey research finds that women of childbearing age are more doubtful than other adults about the safety of existing, recommended vaccines that can protect them from two other illnesses: the seasonal flu and Covid-19.

Research from the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) shows that higher percentages of women of childbearing age (18 to 49 years old) do not think that vaccination against Covid-19 and the flu during pregnancy is safe, when compared with women age 50 and older and all adult men. The survey findings are contained in APPC’s second Annenberg Science and Public Health Knowledge Monitor, which is based on 10 waves of a nationally representative panel survey of U.S. adults, with the most recent wave conducted with over 1,600 U.S. adults in January 2023.

[Download the full report here. Download just the report text or the methodology and topline.]

Although a majority (53%) of women of childbearing age know that the seasonal flu vaccine “is safe for pregnant women,” 17% of women of childbearing age incorrectly think that is false. Doubts that the vaccine is safe for pregnant women are held by a much larger percentage of women of childbearing age (17%) than women 50 years old and older (4%) or adult men (9%).

This trend is even more pronounced with the Covid-19 vaccine. As seen in a prior wave of the survey, in August 2022, just over 4 in 10 women (42%) of childbearing age know that Covid-19 vaccination during pregnancy is safe and effective. But nearly a third (31%) of women of childbearing age incorrectly think it is false to say that Covid-19 vaccination during pregnancy is safe and effective. Many more women of childbearing age doubt the safety and effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccination during pregnancy (31%) than older women (15%) or adult men (19%).

“Because the Covid and flu vaccines help protect both those who are pregnant and their infants, dispatching misconceptions about them should be a public health priority,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. “That women of childbearing age are showing doubt in the safety of current, authorized vaccines is worrisome.”

The report finds differences among women of childbearing age depending on vaccination status:

• Flu: The U.S. seasonal flu shot is considered safe for pregnant women by three-quarters (76%) of women of childbearing age who indicate they are vaccinated against the flu but only by 40% of those who did not report having a flu shot.
• Covid-19: The Covid-19 vaccination during pregnancy is considered safe and effective by 59% of women of childbearing age who report having had the primary series of Covid-19 vaccine shots but only 8% of those who did not report taking Covid vaccines.
• Uncertainty: Large numbers of people – especially, women age 50 and older – are not sure if the two vaccines are safe during pregnancy. Among women 50 and older, 39% are not sure if the Covid-19 vaccine is safe and effective during pregnancy, and over half (51%) are not sure if the flu shot is safe for pregnant women.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends both the flu shot and a Covid-19 vaccine for pregnant people.

The ASAPH report

APPC’s science and health knowledge monitor comprises survey reports that track national levels of health knowledge and misinformation over time. Building on the Annenberg Science Knowledge (ASK) surveys, which since 2016 have been focused on health knowledge and misinformation about topics such as the Zika virus, measles, and Covid-19 and vaccination, the Annenberg Science and Public Health Knowledge Monitor (ASAPH) generates indices of knowledge about such vital health topics as maternal and reproductive health, vaccination, Covid-19, monkeypox, and indications and treatment of heat-related illness. It also provides an ongoing measure of public confidence in the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

This second ASAPH report is based on 10 waves of a nationally representative panel survey of 1,657 U.S. adults, first empaneled in April 2021, conducted for APPC by SSRS, an independent market research company. The tenth wave was conducted January 10-16, 2023. It has a margin of sampling error (MOE) of ± 3.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Some of the findings on flu vaccination and misinformation about flu and Covid-19 were previously released.

Other ASAPH findings

Among the report’s other topics and findings:

• Flu attitudes: There are significant differences on attitudes toward flu risks depending on an individual’s vaccination status. Asked about the statement “Children do not need the seasonal flu shot because they are at low risk of death from seasonal flu,” 73% of adults vaccinated against the flu disagreed, but just 41% of adults who did not report being vaccinated against flu disagreed.
• Myocarditis & sudden cardiac events: Nearly half of those surveyed (47%) are not sure whether Covid-19 poses a higher risk for myocarditis than Covid-19 vaccination. (See APPC’s project FactCheck.org on the myocarditis risk and Covid-19 vaccination.)
• Mental health disorders: Of those surveyed, 42% say they have known someone in their family diagnosed with a mental health disorder; 24% say they have themselves been diagnosed with a mental health disorder; and 59% say they have known “anyone” who was diagnosed with a mental health disorder.
  • Seniors were the least likely to report knowing anyone with a mental health diagnosis. On self-reporting diagnoses, over a third (37%) of those 18 to 29 years old report a mental health diagnosis, compare with just 11% of respondents 65 and older.
• Gun ownership and suicide: While studies show an association between handgun ownership and suicide, just under 4 in 10 (39%) survey respondents say that having a gun in a person’s home will increase the chances that a person will die by suicide. A third of respondents (33%) say incorrectly that it does not affect the chances that a person will die by suicide, and 27% say they don’t know.

Data analysis for the Annenberg Science and Public Health Knowledge Monitor was conducted by policy center research analyst Shawn Patterson Jr., Ph.D., and APPC managing director of survey research Ken Winneg, Ph.D. Patrick E. Jamieson, Ph.D., director of APPC’s Annenberg Health and Risk Communication Institute, developed the questions in the surveys. The Annenberg Science and Public Health Knowledge Monitor is a project of APPC’s Annenberg Health and Risk Communication Institute, which is funded by an endowment established for it by the Annenberg Foundation.

The Annenberg Public Policy Center was established in 1993 to educate the public and policy makers about communication’s role in advancing public understanding of political, science, and health issues at the local, state, and federal levels.

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