Doctor most trusted source of vaccination information?

Most parents rely on their child’s doctor for information about vaccines, but many will also trust information from family, friends, other parents, and even celebrities, according to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics.

Researchers at the University of Michigan surveyed 1,552 parents with children under 17 years old regarding their levels of trust in various sources of information about vaccinations.

Over three quarters – 76 percent – said that they trusted vaccine information ‘a lot’ when it came from their child’s doctor. Other health care providers were trusted ‘a lot’ by 26 percent of those surveyed, while government officials won the trust of 23 percent.

Parents said that they put ‘some’ trust in other sources of information: 67 percent trusted advice from family and friends, and 63 percent trusted other parents who said vaccines had harmed their children.

Celebrities were trusted ‘a lot’ by 2 percent of parents, and trusted ‘some’ by 24 percent. Hispanic parents were especially willing to trust celebrities, with 40 percent saying they had ‘a lot’ or ‘some’ trust in the advice of someone famous.

"Even if only a fraction of parents receive, believe, and act on misinformation about vaccine safety provided by these different sources, individual children’s health and the population’s health may suffer because of vaccine preventable illnesses," concluded Dr. Gary L. Freed, the study’s lead author.