Vaccine Delays, Refusals, and Patient Dismissals: A Survey of Pediatricians

Abstract

Pediatricians reported increased vaccine refusal between 2006 and 2013. They perceive that vaccine-refusing parents increasingly believe that immunizations are unnecessary. Pediatricians continue to provide vaccine education but are also dismissing patients at higher rates.

Geospatial analysis of nonmedical vaccine exemptions and pertussis outbreaks in the United States

“…Nonmedical vaccine exemptions have been on the rise in the United States (1,(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35). The rates of nonmedical vaccine exemptions are not evenly distributed among communities, which indicates that obtaining nonmedical vaccine exemptions tends to be a socially and spatially clustered behavior (27,28,36).…”

“…Several studies have suggested reasons for the resurgence of pertussis in the United States, including waning immunity from the acellular pertussis vaccine that replaced whole cell vaccine (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18); medical advancements that have allowed more effective diagnosis and reporting of pertussis cases (19,20); asymptomatic transmission of B. pertussis from individuals vaccinated with the acellular pertussis vaccine (21,22); evolving variant strains of B. pertussis circulating that are less protected by the vaccine (23)(24)(25); and a decrease in vaccine coverage that has compromised herd/community immunity (1,(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35). It is clear that the rise in reported pertussis cases in the United States is a multifaceted problem not fully captured in national or state-level data.…”

Countering Vaccine Hesitancy

“…6 The Periodic Survey of Fellows (PS#66) conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in 2006 revealed that 75% of pediatricians surveyed had encountered parents who refused a vaccine, 7 and a follow-up survey in 2013 (PS#84) revealed that this figure had increased to 87% of pediatricians. 8 According to the survey, pediatricians stated that the proportion of parents who refused 1 or more vaccines increased from 9.1% to 16.7% during the 7-year interval between surveys. 7,8 Physicians stated that the most common reasons parents refused vaccines were that they believed that vaccines are unnecessary (which showed an increase over the 7-year span) and that they had concerns about autism (which declined between survey years).…”

“…8 According to the survey, pediatricians stated that the proportion of parents who refused 1 or more vaccines increased from 9.1% to 16.7% during the 7-year interval between surveys. 7,8 Physicians stated that the most common reasons parents refused vaccines were that they believed that vaccines are unnecessary (which showed an increase over the 7-year span) and that they had concerns about autism (which declined between survey years). In both 2006 and 2013, pediatricians reported that they were able to convince approximately 30% of parents to vaccinate their children when they initially refused.…”

Simply put: Vaccination saves lives

“…A 2014 national webbased poll of parents in the United States estimated that 90.8% (89.3-92.1%) reported accepting or planning to accept all recommended noninfluenza childhood vaccines, 5.6% (4.6-6.9%) reported intentionally delaying one or more, and 3.6% (2.8-4.5%) reported refusing one or more vaccines (12). A national survey of pediatricians in the United States reported that the proportion of pediatricians reporting parental vaccine refusals increased from 74.5% in 2006 to 87.0% in 2013 (13). A 67-country survey on the state of vaccine confidence reported an average of 5.8% of respondents globally were skeptical about the importance of vaccines, with that proportion rising to more than 15% in some countries (14).…”