As schools prepare for a full return to in-person instruction in the fall, there is less parental opposition nationally to vaccinating children, according to a recent study from The COVID States Project. 

The project, a collaboration between Northwestern, Northeastern University, Harvard University and Rutgers University, has conducted research on national COVID-19 policy outlooks for an extended period of time. Between winter 2020 and summer 2021, there was a jump of 6.9 percentage points in support for school vaccine mandates, according to a Tuesday Northwestern Now release. 

Despite this overall trend, there is still some hesitancy, most notably among young mothers and mothers of young children. This disparity, among others found in the report, could lead to uneven vaccination rates within schools. 

“The over-time changes show that this is an evolving issue but one that needs acute attention as the fall approaches and schools decide how to proceed in terms of their vaccination plans and their safety requirements,” political science Prof. James Druckman, a member of The COVID States Project, said in the release.

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Twitter: @jacobnfulton

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