Half of US adults think spacing out childhood vaccines is healthier

Clinical takeaway: Ask what is behind a request to hold some doses for later, then tell patients that CDC says giving several at once is safe and means fewer appointments. 

Not wanting children to receive multiple shots at one visit was a major reason cited by 42% of parents who skipped or delayed a childhood vaccine in a 2025 national survey. A recent White House executive order echoes that concern, recommending that childhood vaccines be administered at separate visits whenever feasible. The order also endorses offering measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines as separate products if they become available in the US.

A national poll now puts numbers behind that belief, finding that about half of US adults think children are better off receiving vaccines a few at a time.

Adults split almost evenly, with 50% saying children are healthier when vaccines are spaced out and they avoid multiple shots in one visit, and 49% saying there is no strong evidence that it is healthier.  

Republican and Republican-leaning parents were more than twice as likely as their Democratic counterparts to view spacing out vaccines as healthier for children (69% vs 32%). At the same time, awareness of the August executive order remained limited, with most adults (59%) saying they had heard little or nothing about it.

The KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,328 US adults online and by telephone from September 16 to 21, 2026. The sample included 437 parents of children under 18. 

The August 10 executive order directs an HHS task force to present recommendations to the White House by Nov. 8. Those recommendations are expected to include options for offering core childhood vaccines as single-antigen products, beginning with MMR, as well as a review of the timing and sequencing of routine childhood immunizations and potential changes to the federal schedule. The order also calls for federal programs to maximize parental choice regarding childhood vaccination.

Some studies have identified small increases in the risk of febrile seizures with certain vaccine combinations. For example, a 2016 analysis found that children aged 6 to 23 months had a higher risk when influenza vaccine was administered on the same day as a pneumococcal conjugate or DTaP vaccine than when influenza vaccine was given separately. The absolute risk remained small.

“While spacing out vaccines and refraining from getting multiple shots in one visit are key directives in President Trump’s executive order, there is no evidence to support such claims,” the authors conclude. 

Source: Kaiser Family Foundation (2026 Oct 20). KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust: Fall 2026 Update on Vaccine Views