Maternal awareness, acceptability and willingness towards respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination during pregnancy in Ireland

Abstract

BackgroundRespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the world's leading cause of viral acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) in infants. WHO has identified maternal RSV vaccination a priority and candidate vaccines are in development; however, vaccine hesitancy remains an impediment to successful implementation of maternal immunization. This study, the largest antenatal survey conducted to‐date, aimed to examine maternal RSV awareness, likely acceptance of RSV vaccination in pregnancy, and attitudes to maternal vaccination.MethodsPregnant women of all gestations attending antenatal clinic of a university maternity hospital in Ireland were invited to participate. An information leaflet provided, consent obtained, and survey administered examining RSV awareness, willingness to avail of antenatal RSV vaccination, factors influencing acceptability and preferred sources of assistance. Research Ethics Committee (REC) approval obtained, and general data protection regulation (GDPR) guidelines followed.Results528 women completed the survey. A large proportion (75.6%) had never heard of RSV, yet 48.5% would still avail of a vaccine, 45.8% were undecided and only 5.3% would not. The main factor making vaccination acceptable to women (76.4%) was that it protects their infant from illness (p < .001, CV 0.336 for association with acceptance) and general practitioner (GP) was the preferred guidance source in decision‐making (57.7%).ConclusionsDespite low levels of maternal awareness of RSV, pregnant women in Ireland are open to availing of antenatal vaccination. Maternal immunization strategies need to focus on infant's protection from RSV‐associated ALRI along with vaccine safety, and build on an interdisciplinary collaboration of maternal, neonatal, primary care and public health services.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) prevention: perception and willingness of expectant parents in the Netherlands

“…Therefore, the high number of pregnant women that opts for pertussis vaccination in our cohort might also explain the high number of parents favouring maternal vaccination over neonatal immunization. A high proportion of our study population (91.2%) showed willingness to maternal vaccination which was much higher compared to previous reports that ranged from 48.5 to 77% 20 21 23 24 . Reasons for this could be the overall high vaccination willingness and high familiarity with RSV in this study, which has been suggested as a strong predictor for vaccine uptake before 23 .…”

“…To date, most studies exploring the acceptance of RSV prophylactic strategies have primarily focused on maternal vaccination alone 20 21 23 24 , despite the fact that most countries are willing to implement neonatal immunization. A small number of recently published studies did evaluate the acceptability of both strategies among parents of children < 2 years old, pregnant women and health care professionals 22 25 26 .…”

“…Pertussis and influenza prevention programs during pregnancy are in place in many countries, but show varying acceptance rates, alongside a decline in the number of children vaccinated through national immunization programs 19 . Limited research has been conducted on acceptance of RSV prevention strategies, and has been primarily focused on maternal vaccination, with widely varying results [20][21][22][23][24] . So far, only one study has evaluated both acceptability to maternal and neonatal immunization in parallel, underscoring the need for more comprehensive research 22 .…”