Social Networks Linked to Vaccine Decisions

If your friends don’t follow standard vaccine schedules, chances are you won’t either. That’s the conclusion of a study that surveyed 196 parents. All of them had children 18 months old or younger. They took online surveys that asked their opinions on vaccines and what schedules they followed for their kids’ shots. They also were asked about their sources of vaccine information and what the sources recommended. In all, 70 people skipped some recommended shots for their children, or delayed some of them. Researchers called this group “nonconformers.” They tended to ask more people for advice than conformers (those who followed standard schedules) did. About 72% of the nonconformers’ advice networks recommended skipping or delaying vaccines. Only 13% of the conformers’ networks gave this advice.