Abstract
Understanding parental attitudes to their children’s vaccination is critical to developing and implementing interventions that address parents’ hesitancy and improve vaccine uptake. The Parent Attitudes about Childhood Vaccines (PACV) survey is a validated tool for identifying vaccine hesitancy in parents. We evaluated the rate of vaccine hesitancy and areas of concern regarding childhood vaccinations using an adapted version of the PACV survey, in a convenience sample of parents attending a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) outreach event in Ireland, in 2018. A score ≥ 50 identified vaccine hesitant parents. Of 105 parents who completed the survey, the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy was 6.7%, (7/105). Parents had concerns around vaccine side effects (36.2%, n = 38), vaccine safety (20%, n = 21) and the number of vaccines administered (13.3%, n = 14). Parents trusted the vaccine information they received (85.6%, n = 90) and 81.9% (n = 86) believed that the vaccine schedule was good for their child. The findings indicate the presence of vaccine hesitancy in parents in Ireland regarding paediatric vaccines with further research necessary to address parents’ vaccine concerns. Future research should explore further, by qualitative methods, parents’ vaccine concerns. There is also potential to identify vaccine hesitant parents with the PACV survey as a surveillance method in healthcare settings; for example, in community pharmacies, family doctor clinics and out-patient clinics.
Highlights
The aim of this study was to use the Parent Attitudes about Childhood Vaccines (PACV) to measure the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy in a population of parents attending a community science outreach event in Cork, Ireland
The aim of this study was to measure the prevalence of paediatric vaccine hesitancy using the PACV survey, in a population of parents attending a STEM outreach event
We found that 94.3% of all participants (n = 99) agreed with the statement “I am able to openly discuss my concerns about vaccines with my child’s doctor”, and on a Likert scale ranging from 0 to 10, 89.5% of participants (n = 94) reported a score of ≥ 8 in response to the item “All things considered, how much do you trust your child’s doctor?” This aligns with data collected in the Wellcome Trust’s Global Health Monitor in Ireland during this time, where 93% of Irish participants reported that they trusted these healthcare providers (HCPs), and 85% trusted them most for medical and/or health advice [29]
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Prophylactic vaccination of infants and children with several vaccines is the cornerstone of effective immunisation programmes against a variety of childhood diseases. Despite these benefits, immunisation rates in many countries including Ireland, and for some vaccines, remain suboptimal in spite of vaccine availability [1]. Immunisation rates in many countries including Ireland, and for some vaccines, remain suboptimal in spite of vaccine availability [1] This has led to a series of potentially preventable disease (e.g., measles, pertussis) outbreaks internationally [2,3]
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