Johns Hopkins University New survey finds significant link between ‘new right’ outlets and vaccine hesitancy. People who follow “new right” media outlets are more than twice as likely to be vaccine-hesitant compared to those who never engage with those outlets, a new Johns Hopkins University study finds.
Researchers surveyed nearly 3,000 adults in 2025, as measles cases hit record highs in the United States, asking participants about their sources for news and health information and how they felt about the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, vaccine. The findings revealed how specific media habits are strongly associated with attitudes toward vaccines.
The study found:
Hesitant adults were more likely to rely on non-authoritative sources for health information, like alternative health providers, social media health influencers, and alternative health newsletters, such as Children’s Health Defense.
People who regularly engaged with “new right” media outlets, meaning digital news outlets with a strong conservative political bias including Breitbart, Newsmax, and Zero Hedge, were more than twice as likely to be vaccine hesitant.