Knowledge and Willingness toward Vaccination among Pregnant Women: Comparison between Pertussis and Influenza

Our study sought to characterize the knowledge and willingness levels regarding vaccinations against pertussis and seasonal influenza (influenza) among pregnant women in Guizhou province, China, which have previously been unclear.

In total, 11 hospitals that carried out obstetrics and antenatal examination services were randomly included in the target organizations, and 564 questionnaires completed by the pregnant women were collected and analyzed in Guizhou province. The questionnaires contained questions addressing awareness and knowledge of pertussis and influenza, willingness to be vaccinated at different life stages, and the basic statuses of subjects. A two-paired McNemar test was used to compare the knowledge levels on pertussis and influenza. A Friedman test was used to compare the willingness to be vaccinated at different life stages. To explore the factors influencing knowledge levels, a chi-square test and binary logistic regression were used with stepwise backward regression.

In total, 11.9 percent of the pregnant women had received influenza vaccines in the year prior to their pregnancy in Guizhou province. The pregnant women had poorer knowledge of pertussis than of influenza. Given a vaccine was available, the willingness of pregnant women to partake in the following vaccination-related actions could be ranked, from highest to lowest: free vaccination of babies, recommend vaccination to family members, postpartum vaccination, vaccination of babies at mothers' expense, and vaccination during pregnancy. Knowledge levels played different roles in the women's willingness to receive vaccinations at different life stages. Common knowledge of pertussis and influenza played a limited role in the willingness to receive maternal vaccinations. Among the pregnant women, the factors influencing the low levels of pertussis knowledge were occupation as nonmedical-institution staff, lower educational level, pregnancy stage past the first trimester, and not bearing children; for influenza, the factors were occupation as nonmedical-institution staff, lower educational level, denial of pregnancy-induced disease, and lower monthly household income per capita.

Pregnant women have poorer levels of knowledge on pertussis than influenza, whereas there was no significant difference in their willingness to be vaccinated against these conditions. Health education on pertussis should be strengthened and we called for vaccines given at birth.