To close the childhood immunization gap, we need a richer understanding of parents' decision-making

Abstract

Vaccination is widely acknowledged as one of the most successful public health interventions globally and in most high-income countries childhood vaccination coverage rates are moderately high. Yet in many instances, immunisation rates remain below aspirational targets and have shown only modest progress toward those targets in recent years, despite concerted efforts to improve uptake. In part, coverage rates reflect individual parents' vaccination attitudes and decisions and, because vaccination decision-making is complex and context-specific, it remains challenging at individual and community levels to assist parents to make positive decisions. Consequently, in the search for opportunities to improve immunisation coverage, there has been a renewed research focus on parents' decision-making. This review provides an overview of the literature surrounding parents' vaccination decision-making, offering suggestions for where efforts to increase vaccination coverage should be targeted and identifying areas for further research.

Trait reactance and trust in doctors as predictors of vaccination behavior, vaccine attitudes, and use of complementary and alternative medicine in parents of young children

“…Our results thus extend previous research by showing that trait reactance not only affects attitudes to vaccines, but it has small effects on the actual vaccination decisions as well. The finding that parents with more trust in doctors were more likely to have accepted vaccinations, and more likely to have positive attitudes to vaccines, was also in line with previous studies (for reviews, see e.g., [5,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15]).…”

“…The results from a number of studies show that the decision to get vaccinated is a complex process that can be influenced by a wide range of factors (for reviews, see e.g., [5,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15]). Studies that aim at identifying key determinants of vaccination decision-making, suggest that vaccine acceptance is more likely among individuals who perceive vaccines as available, affordable, beneficial, safe, and effective, and who trust the actors involved in vaccinations [7,15,16].…”

Vaccination Attitude and Communication in Early Settings: An Exploratory Study

“…Additionally, communicating effectively means identifying settings where parents can be more receptive to the issues of vaccines [ 22 , 23 ]. The literature suggests the importance of early settings, in which communication interventions are carried out in a temporal context that precedes the administration of vaccines, leaving parents time to consider, discuss and reflect on the received information [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ]. Prenatal courses and birth points can be considered “early settings” in which the communication regarding vaccines is carried out through interactive methods during pregnancy or within the days of delivery, i.e., at least two–three months before the first session of vaccination.…”

Is there an association between the use of complementary medicine and vaccine uptake: results of a pilot study

“…In Australia, as with many other nations, vaccination rates are generally high enough to infer herd immunity [ 5 ]. However, there is concern that the long-term success of the childhood immunisation program is vulnerable to the growing threat of vaccine rejection and anti-vaccination sentiment [ 6 ]. Recently, significant attention has been drawn to the issue of vaccine hesitancy and its perceived link with the anti-vaccination movement and CM [ 7 , 8 ].…”