Pediatricians in California are noticing a concerning trend of more vaccine-hesitant parents delaying their child's routine immunizations, The Los Angeles Times reported March 11.
As measles outbreaks pop up throughout the U.S., an increasing number of parents are asking pediatricians to postpone measles, mumps and rubella shots. Instead of refusing vaccinations, more families are showing reluctance in the vaccine schedule and are requesting shots be delayed by months or years.
Physicians first spotted this trend during the COVID-19 pandemic, after waves of misinformation and politicization hampered trust in the healthcare industry.
"I have patients who have three kids, and they vaccinated the first two kids on schedule," pediatrician Eric Ball, MD, who works in Orange, Calif., told the LA Times. "And then since COVID, with their third kid, they are like, 'I don't know if this is safe. I want to wait until the kids are older,' or 'Instead of doing two shots today, I want to do one shot.'"
Delayed vaccines create a potential vulnerability gap in a child's first four years, according to the LA Times.
Nationally, the rate of kindergartners who are fully immunized against measles has fallen from 95% in the 2019-20 school year to 93% in 2022-23, according to CDC data.