False information is spreading about measles vaccine as more admit hearing fake claims it’s linked to autism

Misinformation about the measles outbreak across West Texas and the U.S. is spreading with more Americans reporting hearing false claims – and it comes with potentially deadly consequences.

Even as the number of national cases has exceeded 800 and two children have died, “false and misleading statements” regarding the measles virus and vaccines used to target measles have continued to circulate, a new KFF Health poll found.

One of those false claims is regarding a link between autism in children and the shots. The survey reported that approximately 63 percent of adults said they have read or heard the false claim that the vaccines have been proven to cause autism in children.

There is no link between autism and the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, which is 97 percent effective against infection.

Notably, the majority of respondents who heard the false claim were white, compared to fewer Black and Hispanic adults.

But, that’s not the only false information being passed around. A third of adults and parents have heard or read the false claim that getting the measles vaccine is more dangerous than becoming infected, and one in five adults – and 17 percent of parents – have heard or read the false claim that Vitamin A can prevent infections.

Vitamin A has been presented by Health and Human Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as a potential treatment for infection, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updating its guidance to say administration of the vitamin “may be appropriate.” But, experts caution that while vitamin A can prevent complications, it should not be used to try to prevent infections.

“Vitamin A, at any dose, does not protect you from measles,” Dr. James D. Campbell, vice chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases, said earlier this year. “No one should take, and no parent should give to their child, vitamin A in hopes of preventing measles. It will not do that.”

Getting the measles vaccine is much safer than infection, the CDC notes. Nevertheless, the shares of adults and parents who have heard the false claim that receiving the measles vaccine is more dangerous than getting infected with measles has increased by 15 percentage points since March 2024.

Belief or disbelief in false claims about measles fell along party lines. At least one in five Republicans and independents said they think each of the three false claims about measles are either “definitely” or “probably true,” compared to smaller shares of Democrats. And, 35 percent of Republicans and 26 percent of independents said they think the false claim that the vaccines have been proven to cause autism in children are either “definitely” or “probably true.”

Fewer Republican parents expressed confidence in the safety of measles vaccines, and parents who said false claims about measles are “definitely” or “probably true” were more likely to have skipped vaccinations for their kids.

“Those parents are more than twice as likely to say that they have delayed or skipped some vaccines for their children compared to parents who don’t believe any of those claims,” Liz Hamel, director of public opinion and survey research at KFF, told NPR, adding, “I think this is one of the more concerning findings from the poll.”