Photo: Heather Hazzan, SELF Magazine.
It can be challenging to keep up with changing attitudes and behaviors of Americans when it comes to vaccines. This is particularly true in the currently volatile environment of misinformation coming not only from social media and anti-vaccine advocacy organizations but also from within the highest levels of the federal government.
The KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor Dashboard and related vaccine polls and health trust surveys are reliable sources, along with peer-reviewed studies, that reporters can use when covering vaccines and vaccine attitudes and behaviors.
KFF vaccines data
The KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor Dashboard focuses only on the COVID vaccines and is more dated, with their most recent surveys published in late 2023. However, building on the network and methods used to create that dashboard, KFF now regularly publishes polls and surveys on vaccines more broadly.
KFF, formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation, is a nonprofit organization run by a board of trustees and not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente. They are funded by an endowment and external funds primarily from foundations and individual donors, and their audit reports and IRS forms are available on their website. They primarily focus on U.S. populations on a wide variety of health topics.
One of the most valuable data sources they offer is the KFF Health Information and Trust Polling Dashboard, which includes polls on who the public trusts for health information, confidence in federal health agencies and officials, and parental trust in childhood vaccines.
Their section on awareness of or belief in false or unproven health claims provides insights into common misconceptions perpetuated on social media, in alternative media, and by current federal officials, such as Tylenol’s relationship to autism, the safety of mRNA vaccines, and the fact that Vitamin A cannot prevent measles.
Ongoing tracking polls have information on Americans’ views about vaccine safety from April 2025 through June 2026, with data collection ongoing. They also have tracking polls on common misconceptions about vaccines, most recently from June 2026.
Their CEO, Drew Altman, writes regular columns analyzing their data and may be available for interviews. You can find other KFF staffers and journalists in their directory.
How to use this data
The data is presented in ongoing reports, similar to how Pew Research publishes ongoing data. To find out what they are currently working on or when the next report will be released, contact their Communications team.
The best way to use the data is to explore the topics available, view the most recent reports in reverse chronological order, and use the search bar to search within each topic. Their health information and trust polling dashboard has a clear, easy-to-navigate sidebar.
Story ideas from KFF health topics
KFF is itself a journalism outfit, so sometimes the best use of the data is to take what they find at a national level and look for ways to localize that for your market. Their polls on what proportion of people believe specific misconceptions about health information or vaccines could be used for explainers to correct misinformation, supplemented by local voices who are health care providers, public health advocates, or community members.
Some of their Quick Takes may also help people understand how specific new policy changes are affecting them locally.
Source: healthjournalism.org
