Социально-демографический портрет семьи, отказывающейся от вакцинации детей, и причины отказов

Abstract

Vaccination is a reliable way to prevent many infectious diseases. Reduced vaccination coverage along with increased migration, high population density, and high risk of epidemic outbreaks makes the issue of vaccine commitment among parents and the problem of vaccine refusal highly relevant. Objective. To analyze sociodemographic characteristics of vaccine-refusing families and reasons underlying their refusal. Patients and methods. We have conducted a blind, consecutive, cross-sectional, cohort study that included 2 groups of respondents: Group 1 included 80 mothers of newborns followed-up at the Perinatal Center, whereas Group 2 comprised 135 mothers of children aged 2–3 years followed-up at the Children's Polyclinic No 2, Children's City Hospital No 9 of Khabarovsk. Data collection was performed between January and September 2018 and included the survey of mothers. The questionnaire was aimed to assess sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents and reasons for refusing vaccination. Results. We have analyzed sociodemographic characteristics of vaccine-refusing families and identified the differences in the social status of mothers of newborns and children aged 2–3 years. In the maternity hospital, young mothers (74.2%) who are officially married (57.5%) with 2 or more children, with secondary or specialized secondary education (58%) were most likely to refuse vaccination. Young mothers of the first child with higher education (65%) (48.5% with higher medical education), with an average income (60%) most frequently refused previous vaccinations of children aged 2–3 ages. In more than half of the cases, there was one child in the family (65.5%); these were primarily two-parent, socially advantaged families. We observed a prior role of a pediatrician as a source of information about vaccination of children and a high level of trust in public health institutions in terms of vaccination. Conclusion. Our findings indicate that the attitude to vaccines is generally positive. However, some parents, whose children may be a reserve for increasing the number of timely vaccinated children, realize the importance of vaccination, but due to some objective reasons (such as medical contraindications) or without substantial reasons postpone it indefinitely. Key words: vaccination, children, refusal, adherence