Poll Finds Support For Mandatory Vaccinations

North Carolinians take a harder line on requiring vaccinations than the overall US population. That's according to a just-released Elon University poll. 

The results come after a highly publicized surge in measles cases last year.

The Elon poll asked if parents should be required to vaccinate their children against major childhood diseases, or if parents should be allowed to decide not to vaccinate their kids.

Just over a quarter of respondents, 27 percent, said parents should be allowed to decide. That's a little less than a national figure of 30 percent, according to an earlier Pew Research Center poll.

The Elon poll found women and older respondents were most likely to favor requiring vaccinations.

By the end of August last year, there were almost 600 reported cases of measles in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The number of cases was the highest in 20 years.

North Carolina vaccination rates remain high for measles, mumps and rubella. A CDC survey in 2013 found 96 percent of North Carolina children under 3 had been vaccinated. That was the highest rate in the Southeast and significantly higher than the year before.