Vaccine Hesitancy Among Pediatric Nurses: Prevalence and Associated Factors

Abstract

Background. Immunization rates of immuno-preventable diseases have declined in recent decades due to vaccine hesitancy. Primary care nurses play an essential role in promoting and maintaining vaccination coverage but may have doubts about or question the need to vaccinate. This study describes the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy and the associated factors among pediatric primary care nurses in Barcelona (Spain).Methods. Cross-sectional descriptive study. We invited the pediatric nurses (N = 165) working at all the Barcelona public primary health services (N = 41) to participate. They answered a questionnaire with sociodemographic and behavioral variables: severity and probability of contracting the diseases in the vaccination schedule; safety and protection of each vaccine; and beliefs, social norms, and knowledge about vaccines. Outcome variable was vaccine hesitancy, dichotomized into no hesitant (nurses who would vaccinate their own offspring), and hesitant (including those who would not vaccinate them, those who had doubts and those who would delay the administration of one or more vaccines).We performed bivariate analysis and adjusted logistic regression models.Results. 83% of pediatric nurses (N = 137) agreed to participate. A 32.1% of them reported vaccine hesitancy, especially about the HPV (21.9%) and varicella (17.5%) vaccines. In the multivariate analysis, hesitancy was associated with low perception of the severity of whooping cough [aOR: 3.88; (95%CI):1.32–11.4], low perception of safety of the HPV vaccine [aOR:8.5;(95%CI):1.24–57.8], the belief that vaccines are administered too early [aOR:6.09;(95%CI):1.98–18.8], and not having children [aOR:4.05;(95%CI):1.22–13.3].Conclusions. Although most pediatric nurses would vaccinate their own children, almost one third display some kind of vaccine hesitancy, mainly related with doubts about HPV and varicella vaccines, as well as some misconceptions. These factors should be addressed to enhance their fundamental role in promoting vaccination among families.