Vaccination Attitude and Communication in Early Settings: An Exploratory Study.

Noemi Mereu,Paolo Contu,Graziella Salis,Michela Piga,Arianna Liori,Alessandra Mereu,Alessandra Murgia,Carmela Porcu,Simonetta Santus,Claudia Sardu,Federico Argiolas

doi:10.3390/vaccines8040701

Noemi Mereu, Paolo Contu + Show 9 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines8040701

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Journal: Vaccines	Publication Date: Nov 20, 2020
Citations: 7	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Cagliari, ATS Sardegna (Italy)

Abstract

Background: This study assesses attitudes towards vaccination in mothers of new-born babies and explores its association with different exposures to communication. Methods: Data were collected through questionnaires administered by means of interviews. Results: Data highlighted that 20% of mothers showed an orientation towards vaccine hesitancy. As for the reasons behind the attitude to vaccine hesitancy, data showed that concern is a common feature. As for the different exposures to communication, 49% of mothers did not remember having received or looked for any information about vaccination during pregnancy and post-partum; 25% stated they received information from several healthcare and non-healthcare sources; 26% declared having received or looked for information by means of healthcare and non-healthcare sources, as well as having taken part in a specific meeting during antenatal classes or at birth centres. The attitude towards vaccine hesitancy tends to reduce as exposure to different communication increases. Conclusions: This study supports the hypothesis that participation in interactive meetings in small groups focused on vaccination during the prenatal course or at the birth point may act as an enabling factor contributing to a decrease in the tendency to experience vaccine hesitation.

Highlights

Vaccination programmes are one of the major preventive measures to control communicable diseases, decline of trust in vaccines is spreading and coverage of childhood immunization has decreased in several high-income countries [1,2,3,4].In Europe, in order to contrast the spread of vaccines’ rejection and/or delay, countries such asItaly and France enacted laws that make several vaccinations at the paediatric age mandatory, and other countries are considering introducing immunization mandates
The present paper aims to contribute to the assessment of this hypothesis by presenting the results of an explorative “natural history” study that analyses the attitudes of a sample of Italian mothers of new-borns towards vaccines and its potential association with interactive meetings on this topic carried out during prenatal courses and at birth points
In agreement with other studies, the results show that the attitude towards vaccine hesitancy affects about one-fifth of new-born mothers, who express doubts and worry more than totally rejecting all vaccines; this is mainly attributable to the combination of concern and perception of lack of knowledge, in line with other studies [1,11,28,29]

Summary

Introduction

Vaccination programmes are one of the major preventive measures to control communicable diseases, decline of trust in vaccines is spreading and coverage of childhood immunization has decreased in several high-income countries [1,2,3,4].In Europe, in order to contrast the spread of vaccines’ rejection and/or delay, countries such asItaly and France enacted laws that make several vaccinations at the paediatric age mandatory, and other countries are considering introducing immunization mandates. This study assesses attitudes towards vaccination in mothers of new-born babies and explores its association with different exposures to communication. As for the reasons behind the attitude to vaccine hesitancy, data showed that concern is a common feature. As for the different exposures to communication, 49% of mothers did not remember having received or looked for any information about vaccination during pregnancy and post-partum; 25% stated they received information from several healthcare and non-healthcare sources; 26% declared having received or looked for information by means of healthcare and non-healthcare sources, as well as having taken part in a specific meeting during antenatal classes or at birth centres. The attitude towards vaccine hesitancy tends to reduce as exposure to different communication increases. Conclusions: This study supports the hypothesis that participation in interactive meetings in small groups focused on vaccination during the prenatal course or at the birth point may act as an enabling factor contributing to a decrease in the tendency to experience vaccine hesitation

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion