Vaccine poll finds parental hesitance
More than a quarter of mothers say they are extremely unlikely to vaccinate their children against covid-19, a recent poll of people in every state found.
New data from The Covid States Project shows that parents with low household incomes (below $25,000), those without college degrees, and Republicans all have lately become more reluctant to vaccinate their kids.
Parents of teenagers are more likely to say they'll vaccinate their children, compared with parents of younger kids. Thirty percent of mothers of babies and preschoolers say they'll decline the covid-19 vaccines for the children.
That was also true for 12% of fathers of very young children.
A partisan gap between parents who are unwilling to vaccinate kids has widened since February, researchers found, with declines among Democratic parents and a slight increase among Republican parents.
The survey polled more than 21,000 people between April and early May.
Its findings come as the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers allowing children ages 12-15 to receive the Pfizer vaccine.
The Covid States Project is a collaboration among researchers from Northeastern, Northwestern, Harvard and Rutgers universities.
State births down in '20, data shows
Fewer babies were born in Arkansas in 2020 than in 2019, according to provisional data from the National Vital Statistics System.
The data released last week showed that 35,210 babies were born in the state last year. That compares with 36,554 babies in 2019.
The decline is part of a national trend. The U.S. birth rate dropped by 4% between 2019 and 2020, reaching a record low.
The percentage of births delivered by cesarean section in Arkansas fell slightly last year, to 33.8%.
That was still higher than the national average of 31.8%.