Nearly Half of First-Time Expecting Parents Undecided on Childhood Vaccines

The age of blind trust is over.

This article originally appeared on Jon Fleetwood’s Substack and was republished with permission.

Guest post by Jon Fleetwood

In a massive shift toward medical autonomy and critical thinking, a new peer-reviewed study published this month in JAMA Network Open has revealed a stunning maturation in parental attitudes toward childhood vaccination, and the medical establishment should be worried.

The revelation comes as the number of “zero-dose” children—those who have not received any routine vaccine—globally rose to 14.3 million in 2024, up from around 13 million in 2019, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to the new study, conducted by researchers from Emory University and the CDC, a staggering 48% of first-time pregnant women are undecided about whether to vaccinate their children after birth.

That means nearly half of all new parents are no longer blindly following CDC recommendations.

The news is welcome for those critical of the CDC’s one-size-fits-all vaccine schedule, the erosion of informed consent, and the medical establishment’s history of dismissing legitimate parental concerns.

Since 1990, the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) has logged 2,676,659 adverse events (AEs) linked to vaccinations, including 49,709 deaths.

That’s troubling enough, but a Harvard-HHS report found that VAERS captures fewer than 1% of actual adverse events, meaning the number of AEs linked to vaccines could be closer to 200 million, with links to deaths closer to 5 million.

Leaders of worldwide vaccination efforts, like billionaire Bill Gates, have stated that vaccines could contribute to lowering the world population “by, perhaps, 10 or 15 percent.”

In stark contrast, U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has prioritized child safety by withdrawing American funding from the Gates-backed vaccine cartel ‘Gavi,’ citing child deaths linked to the DTP jab.

Secretary Kennedy also recently ordered the complete removal of all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), citing long-standing and deeply rooted conflicts of interest.

“Will your child receive any vaccinations after birth?” the new JAMA study asked.

Nearly 1 in 2 new parents answered: “I don’t know.”

The erosion of unconditional trust in the childhood vaccine schedule represents a seismic shift.

For decades, public health messaging has operated on the assumption that parents will comply automatically with the CDC’s 18-month schedule.

But that assumption has cracked wide open.

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New Parents: The Most Vaccine-Hesitant Group

While only 4% of first-time expecting parents (nulliparous) say they outright plan to refuse vaccines, a full 48% are on the fence—and likely open to alternatives, delays, or outright rejection of certain shots.

“Uncertainty about childhood vaccination was highest among nulliparous pregnant participants (31 of 68 [48%]),” the study authors confirm.

That uncertainty is far higher than among parents who already have children.

In that group, 33% refused some or all vaccines, while only 4% were undecided.

This tells us something crucial: the tide of skepticism grows over time.

Once parents begin asking questions—once they witness for themselves the gaslighting and pressure tactics in pediatric offices—their confidence in the system plummets.

Pediatricians Can’t Answer Parents’ Questions—and Parents Are Noticing

The mainstream medical system’s approach to vaccine-hesitant parents has always been to bully, not to explain.

Instead of offering informed consent, pediatricians deflect.

Instead of answering reasonable safety questions, they label concerned parents as “anti-science.”

But now the strategy is backfiring, and parents are waking up.

This new data suggests that vaccine skepticism is no longer fringe, but is becoming the new normal.

And for the first time in a generation, health freedom is no longer a taboo topic in the prenatal exam room.

“The proportion intending to refuse or refusing some or all vaccines… was lowest among nulliparous pregnant participants (4%) and highest among parents (33%),” the authors wrote.

The longer parents stay in the system, the more likely they are to opt out.

The Vaccine Schedule Is Collapsing Under Its Own Weight

If nearly 1 in 2 first-time parents are now questioning whether to fully vaccinate their child—and 1 in 3 experienced parents already aren’t—then we are witnessing the slow implosion of the CDC’s universal childhood immunization model.

That model has long relied on compliance, fear, and censorship.

But parents are no longer accepting “because I said so” as a valid medical argument.

This study makes one thing abundantly clear: the age of blind trust is over.

Copyright 2025 Jon Fleetwood

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