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Parents who refuse to vaccinate their infants: paediatricians' feelings and treatment intentions
A Maayan-Metzger1, P Kedem-Friedrich, M Ben-Namer-Basseches
1Department of Neonatology, Sheba Medical Center, The Edmond and Lili Safra Children's Hospital, Ramat-Gan, Israel; Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. maayan@post.tau.ac.il.
Insights
Pediatricians often feel conflicted about parental vaccine refusal, with most believing in vaccination but many supporting parental rights. Gentle persuasion or official enforcement are favored approaches.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Public Health
- Medical Ethics
Background:
- Vaccine hesitancy presents a significant challenge in pediatric care.
- Understanding healthcare providers' perspectives is crucial for addressing vaccine refusal.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate pediatricians' attitudes, emotions, and practices concerning parents who refuse infant vaccinations.
- To assess pediatricians' reactions and suggestions for managing vaccine-hesitant parents.
Main Methods:
- Anonymous online questionnaire distributed to 376 pediatricians in Israel.
- Data collection on pediatricians' views on vaccination, parental rights, and treatment of unvaccinated infants.
Main Results:
- 92.2% of pediatricians believe vaccination is in the infant's best interest.
- 70.7% expressed negative feelings towards parents refusing vaccination.
- 36.9% agreed parents have the right to decide, while 36.8% supported mandatory vaccinations.
Conclusions:
- Paediatricians experience a conflict between promoting immunization and respecting parental autonomy.
- Strategies like gentle persuasion or official enforcement are preferred.
- Enhanced communication strategies are recommended to effectively convey vaccination benefits.
Aim:
The aim of this study was to evaluate paediatricians' attitudes and emotions towards parents who refuse to vaccinate their infants and to assess their reactions, suggestions and practices.
Design:
The study group consisted of 376 paediatricians in Israel, who completed the emailed research questionnaire anonymously.
Results:
Although the vast majority of paediatricians agreed that vaccination was in the baby's best interest (92.2%), only a small percentage (3.5%) felt that there should be some scientific justification behind a parent's refusal. The majority (70.7%) of those surveyed expressed negative feelings towards refusing parents. Despite this, more than a third (36.9%) agreed that parents have the right to decide (28.9% disagreed) and a third (36.8%) agreed that vaccinations should be officially enforced (35.8% disagreed). Only a very small percentage of the paediatricians (1.8%) said they would object to treating infants who had not been vaccinated.
Conclusion:
Paediatricians face a conflict between two opposing values: the importance of immunization versus the parents' rights to decide what is best for their own child. Therefore, they are in favour of gentle persuasion or official enforcement. We believe that experts in modern communication could help paediatricians to convey the positive benefits of vaccination to parents.
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