Brief report: Parental attitudes and knowledge on routine childhood immunization: an experience from Central Sri Lanka

Abstract

ObjectivesA lack of correct awareness about immunization among parents put them at risk of falling prey to the anti-vaccine movement. This risk is present even in countries with a high vaccine uptake. This study was done with the objective of assessing the awareness of parents childhood vaccination.ResultsIn this study conducted among 141 parents accompanying children to a routine clinic we found that 53.2% of the participants had average or above average knowledge. Level of knowledge was associated with the level of education (OR: 2.7, 95% CI 1.4–5.4) and the sex of the parent (OR: 3.4, 95% CI 1.2–9.3). While our sample size is small, we recommend educational programmes for parents to strengthen their knowledge on vaccination to safeguard the continuity of a successful control of vaccine preventable diseases.

Parents’ knowledge, attitude and practice towards children’s vaccination in Lebanon: role of the parent-physician communication

“…This was also shown in a previous Lebanese study where having a private insurance resulted in higher rates of vaccination [ 9 ]. At last, our results go with the literature to prove that having more knowledge about the efficacy of vaccines, and having a positive attitude towards vaccination and its benefits, all will increase vaccination rates [ 15 , 34 ].…”

“…Our results showed that 757 (27.2%) had good knowledge towards children’s vaccination. A study done in Sri Lanka showed that 44.0% of the participants had above average, 9.2% had average and 46.8% had below average knowledge [ 34 ]. The majority of the participants (90.1%) thought that vaccinating their children is very important, did not delay or plan to delay a vaccine and 3.5% of the participants stated that they were not in favor of vaccination despite bringing their children to get vaccinated [ 34 ].…”

“…A study done in Sri Lanka showed that 44.0% of the participants had above average, 9.2% had average and 46.8% had below average knowledge [ 34 ]. The majority of the participants (90.1%) thought that vaccinating their children is very important, did not delay or plan to delay a vaccine and 3.5% of the participants stated that they were not in favor of vaccination despite bringing their children to get vaccinated [ 34 ]. In a study done in Quebec, the majority of mothers had a low level of knowledge on vaccination, even those who intended to have their infant vaccinated as recommended [ 33 ].…”

“…The third part concerned parents’ attitudes towards vaccines, including their confidence in vaccines, the factors associated with the choice of vaccines, their opinion on their usefulness, effectiveness and safety. The items included in this part were also extracted from previous surveys [ 33 , 34 , 36 ]. The patient-physician communication (PPC) scale consisting of 15 items was added to the questionnaire [ 33 ].…”

Perception and preference of caregivers towards routine immunization amidst COVID-19

“…18 The overall Knowledge attitude and practice was good among most of the parents (87.2%) in a study by Habib et al 19 Similarly, in a study conducted in Bangladesh, most participants (90.1%) thought that immunizing their children was very essential and did not delay or plan to delay any vaccine. 20 The present study results reflected that the majority of the caregivers believed that the antenatal clinics were the most trusted source of information about immunization and thought that the initiation of the immunization schedule should start right from birth. The study conducted by Adeyinka et al found that 65.7% of the respondents got information about VPDs from antenatal clinics.…”