Understanding barriers to vaccination against invasive meningococcal disease: a survey of the knowledge gap and potential solutions

Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) is a leading cause of life-threatening bacterial meningitis and septicemia. Evidence points to a knowledge gap among parents, teenagers, and healthcare providers (HCPs) regarding IMD and available vaccines, including those against the highly prevalent serogroup B.

An online survey was conducted between March 27 and 12 April 2019, to gather insights into the knowledge that parents/guardians have about IMD vaccines. The children were aged 2 months to 10 years in Australia, Brazil, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Spain, 5-20 years in the UK, and 16-23 years in the USA. The findings were discussed in the context of the available literature and solutions were proposed to minimize the knowledge gap and the barriers to vaccination against IMD.

The survey demonstrated that parents have a good understanding of IMD but a limited understanding of the different serogroups and vaccines. The available literature highlighted multiple barriers to IMD vaccine uptake; these may be reduced through education of HCPs, clear recommendations to parents by HCPs, the use of technology, and disease-awareness initiatives that engage parents through physical and digital channels. Further studies are warranted to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on IMD vaccination.