Abstract
Determinants of vaccine hesitancy are not yet well understood. This study aims to assess measles vaccine hesitancy and characterize its determinants among Sudanese parents in Omdurman in Khartoum State. A community-based cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted in Khartoum State in February 2019. The Parent Attitudes about Childhood Vaccination (PACV) was used to measure measles vaccine hesitancy. Questions about the sociodemographic characteristics of the family, the perception of the parents about the measles vaccine, and the parental exposure to information were asked. Proportions of vaccine hesitancy and coefficients of linear regression were computed. Five hundred parents were recruited for the study. We found that a significant proportion of participants (about 1 in 5 parents) had hesitations regarding the measles vaccine. Significant predictors of measles vaccine hesitancy were parental exposure to anti-vaccination information or materials (β = −0.478, p-value < 0.001), the parents’ perception of the effectiveness of measles vaccines (β = 0.093, p-value = 0.020), the age of the mother (β = 0.112, p-value = 0.017), the birth rank of the child (β = −0.116, p-value = 0.015), and the total number of the children in the family (β = 0.098, p-value = 0.013). Vaccination access issues were the common justification for parental vaccination hesitancy. Our findings indicate that investment in vaccine communication as well as addressing access issues might be an effective intervention for improving measles vaccine acceptance and, ultimately, measles vaccine coverage.
Highlights
Vaccine hesitancy is one of the main predictors of low vaccine acceptance and demand worldwide [1,2,3]
Most of the participants had two children who were aged less than five years (45.6%), the majority were fully vaccinated with the measles vaccine (87.2%)
We found in this study that a significant proportion of participants have a risk perception of the measles vaccine
Summary
Vaccine hesitancy is one of the main predictors of low vaccine acceptance and demand worldwide [1,2,3]. As vaccine hesitancy is well investigated in high-income countries, reports show that vaccine hesitancy is increasing in these areas, posing a growing threat to global health [4,5,6,7]. As part of its mission, SAGE developed two models of determinants of vaccine hesitancy; the simplest one is the “3Cs” model, which includes complacency (perceived risks of vaccine-preventable diseases are low and no vaccines are needed), convenience (access issues and constraints), and confidence (i.e., level of trust in a vaccine), and the more comprehensive “Working Group Determinants of Vaccine Hesitancy Matrix”, which characterizes the complexity of the contextual, individual, and group, and vaccine/vaccination-specific influences [3,8]. Studies’ findings have attributed this suboptimal coverage to access and acceptance issues, low vaccine investments, and humanitarian crises [10,11,12]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
