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Why do parents choose not to immunise their children?
Matilda Hamilton1, Paul Corwin, Suzanne Gower
1Department of Public Health and General Practice, Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Aims:
To ascertain the reasons why some parents choose not to immunise their children and where these parents obtained their immunisation information.
Methods:
Seventy general practitioners (GPs) in Christchurch who kept a record of children whose parents declined immunisation were asked to recruit these parents. Half of the GPs were able to invite the 76 parents of children declining immunisation to take part in this study. Twenty one (28%) of these parents agreed to completing a structured questionnaire.
Results:
Parents in this sample were highly educated and had used information from a variety of sources in making their decision not to immunise. Almost half of the parents had not discussed immunisation with their lead maternity carer. They viewed information from the Ministry of Health as biased. They were concerned about vaccine safety and efficacy and the effects of immunisation on their child's immune system.
Conclusions:
Parents who choose not to immunise their children are distrustful of information provided by the Ministry of Health. General practitioners are the main source of immunisation information for these parents and they must be able to provide accurate, unbiased information regarding the risks and benefits of immunisation.