Partisan Polarization of Childhood Vaccination Policies, 1995‒2020

To examine trends in partisan polarization of childhood vaccine bills and the impact of polarization on bill passage in the United States. We performed content analysis on 1497 US state bills (1995-2020) and obtained voting returns for 228 legislative votes (2011‒2020). We performed descriptive and...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of public health (1971) 2022-10, Vol.112 (10), p.1471-1479
Main Authors: Estep, Kevin, Muse, Annika, Sweeney, Shannon, Goldstein, Neal D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abortion
Benchmarks
Bills
Bipartisanship
Childhood
Children
Community Health
Content analysis
Coronaviruses
COVID-19 vaccines
Datasets
Education
Emergencies
Emergency response
Female
Health Law
Health Policy
Human papillomavirus
Humans
Immunization
Immunization/Vaccines
Influenza
Legislators
Legislatures
Measles
Missing data
Pandemics
Partisanship
Polarization
Policies
Political parties
Pregnancy
Public Health
Research & Analysis
School Health
States
Statistical analysis
United States
Vaccination
Vaccines
Veterans
Voting
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:To examine trends in partisan polarization of childhood vaccine bills and the impact of polarization on bill passage in the United States. We performed content analysis on 1497 US state bills (1995-2020) and obtained voting returns for 228 legislative votes (2011‒2020). We performed descriptive and statistical analyses using 2 measures of polarization. Vote polarization rose more rapidly for immunization than abortion or veterans' affairs bills. Bills in 2019-2020 were more than 7 times more likely to be polarized than in 1995-1996 (odds ratio [OR] = 7.04; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.54, 13.99). Bills related to public health emergencies were more polarized (OR = 1.76; 95% CI = 1.13, 2.75). Sponsor polarization was associated with 34% lower odds of passage (OR = 0.66; 95% CI = 0.42, 1.03). State lawmakers were more divided on vaccine policy, but partisan bills were less likely to pass. Bill characteristics associated with lower polarization could signal opportunities for future bipartisanship. Increasing partisan polarization could alter state-level vaccine policies in ways that jeopardize childhood immunization rates or weaken responsiveness during public health emergencies. Authorities should look for areas of bipartisan agreement on how to maintain vaccination rates. ( . 2022;112(10):1471-1479. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2022.306964).
ISSN:0090-0036
1541-0048
1541-0048
DOI:10.2105/AJPH.2022.306964