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More vaccines for children? Parents' views
Helen Bedford1, Marilyn Lansley
1Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK. h.bedford@ich.ucl.ac.uk
Insights
Parental vaccine acceptance depends on perceived illness severity and a preference for fewer injections. Understanding these views is crucial for introducing new childhood vaccines.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Vaccinology
- Public Health
Background:
- Parental attitudes significantly influence vaccine uptake and public health strategies.
- Understanding parental perceptions is key to successful vaccine implementation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore parental perspectives on new vaccine introductions.
- Assessed views on infection severity, vaccine acceptability, and injection preferences.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional survey of 859 parents with children aged 18-24 months in England.
- Questionnaire data analyzed to determine attitudes towards specific vaccines and injection schedules.
Main Results:
- High acceptance for vaccines against serious infections like meningitis (84% for meningococcal B, 69% for pneumococcal).
- Lower acceptance for chickenpox vaccine (34%) among parents who believe children fully recover.
- Over half preferred separate administration of new vaccines, with 57% wanting no more than two injections per visit.
Conclusions:
- Perceived illness severity is a primary driver of vaccine acceptance.
- Reconciling parental preference for fewer injections with concerns about combination vaccines is essential for new vaccine rollout.
Aim:
To investigate parents' views regarding potential new vaccines. We examined attitudes towards severity of specific infections, acceptability of potential vaccines and preferences for the number of injections they would want their child to receive on any one occasion.
Design:
Cross sectional survey.
Methods:
Parents of children aged 18-24 months in three Primary Care Trusts in England were asked to complete a questionnaire.
Results:
Of the 859 parents who responded (38%), over 90% believed that the vaccines currently on offer prevent disease always or almost always. Of those who rated meningitis as serious or very serious, 84% would accept a vaccine against meningococcal group B infection and 69% against pneumococcal infection. Only 34% of those who said their child would make a full recovery from chicken pox would accept a vaccine. Over half the respondents preferred new vaccines to be given separately. Fifty seven percent of parents would not want their child to have more than two injections per clinic visit.
Conclusions:
Parents' views on the severity of illness influence their acceptance of a new vaccine. Their preference for as few injections as possible at a single clinic visit needs to be reconciled with their concerns over the use of combination vaccines.
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