Parental knowledge and attitudes to infant immunization in the context of RSV: All about confidence?

Vaccine

Department of Neonatology, Children's University Hospital Regensburg (KUNO), Hospital St. Hedwig of the Order of St. John, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany; Department of Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, University Children's Hospital Basel (UKBB) and University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address:

Published: October 2024

Background: Recently, the first RSV vaccines have been approved, but vaccine hesitancy still poses great challenges to immunization programs.

Objective: To investigate this phenomenon in the context of the new RSV vaccines and an increased virus activity in 2022/23, we assessed parental knowledge and attitudes towards general childhood and RSV vaccines.

Methods: Parents of infants from 0-36 months completed an online questionnaire on demographics, socio-economic status, mental well-being, knowledge on RSV and perceptions of disease, attitudes to general childhood and RSV vaccines. The survey was conducted from February-June 2023 in the region of Regensburg, Germany. We compared continuous or categorical data with two-sided t-tests or Chi-square tests, respectively. Linear and logistic regression models were used to adjust for confounders.

Results: From 191 survey participants, 84 % had never refused any recommended vaccination and 91 % trusted their paediatrician's information. 11 % felt that children should have fewer vaccinations or rather get over the illness. Parents who were supportive or undecided about RSV vaccination were less likely to be vaccine hesitant in general (OR 0.03, p < 0.001; OR 0.13, p = 0.003). 58 % reported to have basic or good knowledge on RSV, correlating with a higher socioeconomic index (p = 0.049). 24 % were undecided about RSV immunization, while all parents rated its benefit high in the child's first year of life. Parents who refused RSV vaccination were less concerned about the infection compared to vaccine supporters (OR 0.44, p < 0.001). Parents with previously hospitalized (OR 3.88, p = 0.017) or preterm born children (OR 5.12, p = 0.026) were generally more concerned.

Conclusion: Many factors influence parental decision-making leading to three main groups of attitudes: vaccine acceptors, refusers and hesitant but accessible parents. They (24%) represent the "target group" to increase vaccine uptake. Information on the vaccine-preventable disease reduces vaccine hesitancy, underlining the importance of healthcare professionals who remain an important source of trust.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2024.06.018DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

rsv vaccines
12
parental knowledge
8
knowledge attitudes
8
context rsv
8
attitudes general
8
general childhood
8
childhood rsv
8
rsv
7
attitudes infant
4
infant immunization
4

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!