Although a majority of Americans believe that vaccines have value, it appears that many are confused about whether they should themselves be receiving shots, according to a new survey conducted for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID).

At a press briefing in Washington, DC, the organization released survey results and unveiled a new public service campaign, Tame It, that aims to provide guidance and resources for families and healthcare professionals on respiratory illnesses and vaccination.

The survey found that 71% of adults agree that vaccine benefits strongly outweigh risks, and nearly 9 in 10 adults said that anyone who wants a vaccine should be able to access it.

“Most US adults recognize that vaccines are among the best and most proven ways to protect against severe infections,” said NFID Medical Director Robert H. Hopkins, Jr, MD, at the briefing. “At the same time, there’s a notable disconnect between these favorable attitudes and people’s understanding that the recommendations apply to them,” he said.

Hopkins noted that the survey showed that only 28% of adults either don’t believe flu vaccination is recommended for them or are unsure. For COVID vaccination, almost half of the adults don’t realize that the vaccine is recommended for them. Adults were also uncertain about whether pneumococcal and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination recommendations applied to them, but given that those vaccine recommendations “depend on individual factors, it is difficult to ascertain the gap in knowledge,” said the NFID.

Survey respondents also seemed to underestimate the toll of respiratory illnesses.

Only 11% of those surveyed chose a figure that was close to the CDC-estimated 710,000 flu-related hospitalizations during the 2024-2025 season. Half of the respondents estimated that fewer than 400,000 Americans were hospitalized that season. Fewer than half of the respondents correctly identified RSV as the leading cause of hospitalization among infants.

“These findings suggest that many people still underestimate the potential seriousness of respiratory illnesses,” said Hopkins.

Three quarters of survey respondents reported a great deal of trust in doctors, nurses, and pharmacists for vaccine information. Almost half said they turned to a doctor first for accurate vaccine information; two thirds said they learned about vaccine recommendations from their own doctor or nurse.

The CDC was the second most trusted source; AI tools were the least trusted.

Still, people are not acting to protect themselves, said Hopkins. Only 48% of adults said they had tried to obtain a flu, COVID, RSV, or pneumococcal vaccination during the previous 12 months. About a fifth reported trouble accessing a respiratory virus vaccine, saying they were told the vaccine was out of stock or unavailable, or that they were told to return another day or time, and were sent back and forth between a pharmacy and doctor’s office.

The survey was conducted via interviews, online and by phone, in August and has an overall margin of sampling error of ±3.6 percentage points.

Tame It Revives Defunct CDC Program

The new National Respiratory Communications Initiative and its Tame It campaign is a broad effort encompassing all respiratory illnesses.

But information remains available from the CDC’s “Wild to Mild” campaign.

The campaign, begun in 2023, was shuttered by the Trump administration in February 2025.

Tame It is offering to healthcare organizations, schools, and other users the graphics from the CDC campaign. Posters state that flu vaccination can “take flu from wild to mild” and show a lion, for instance, with a dog.

The program also offers graphics and resources about vaccination recommendations for RSV, COVID, and pneumococcal disease.

NFID’s briefing was supported in part by unrestricted educational grants from AstraZeneca; Merck & Co., Inc.; Pfizer Inc.; and Sanofi US. The National Respiratory Communications Initiative is sponsored by the NFID, with unrestricted educational grants from Sanofi US; Merck & Co., Inc.; Pfizer Inc.; CSL Seqirus; GSK; and ModernaTX, Inc. NFID policies prohibit funders from controlling program content.

Alicia Ault is a St Petersburg, Florida-based freelance journalist whose work has appeared in many health and science publications, including Smithsonian.com. You can find her on X @aliciaault and on Bluesky @aliciaault.bsky.social.