Factors Affecting Acceptance and Intention to Receive Pandemic Influenza A H1N1 Vaccine among Primary School Children: A Cross-Sectional Study in Birmingham, UK

Abstract

UK pandemic influenza strategy focused on vaccination of high risk groups, although evidence shows that school-age children have the highest infection rates. Vaccination of children might be an additional strategy. We undertook a cross-sectional study amongst 149 parents of primary school children aged 4–7 years in Birmingham, UK to quantify intention to accept pandemic influenza vaccine and identify factors affecting uptake. Ninety-one (61.1%, 95% CI 52.8, 68.9) had or would accept vaccine for their child. The most common reasons for declining vaccine were concerns about safety (58.6% reported this), side effects (55.2%), or believing their child had already had swine flu (12.1%). Parents of nonwhite ethnicity (OR 2.4 (1.1, 5.0)) and with asthmatic children (OR 6.6 (1.4, 32.1)) were significantly more likely to accept pandemic vaccine, as were those whose children had ever received seasonal vaccine and those who believed swine flu to be a serious threat (OR 4.2 (1.9, 9.1)). Parents would be more likely to accept vaccination if they received a letter of invite, if the government strongly encouraged them, if it were administered at school, and if it were more thoroughly tested. Accurate media portrayal of safety of the vaccine during future pandemics will be essential.

Influenza Vaccination Uptake among the Working Age Population of Japan: Results from a National Cross-Sectional Survey

“…Despite this fact, however, not all studies have demonstrated such a trend. For example, a recent investigation of parents from the United Kingdom [20] found that while 61% would accept influenza vaccination for their children, the most common reasons for declining were concerns about safety and potential side effects.…”

The benefit of the doubt or doubts over benefits? A systematic literature review of perceived risks of vaccines in European populations

“…The most frequent concern cited across studies was the opinion that these vaccines could have dangerous adverse reactions [27][28][29][30][31][77][78][79][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90]92,[94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101][102][103]. This was often explained by study participants as a perception that these new vaccines were developed too quickly [80,100], resulting in insufficient testing and evidence [31,80,85,86,93,94,98,100,102] and information about long term adverse reactions [82,83,93,95,96].…”

Knowledge, awareness and practices towards seasonal influenza and its vaccine: implications for future vaccination campaigns in Jordan

“…The questionnaire was developed after reviewing related surveys in the literature (11)(12)(13). The questionnaire was reviewed by several colleagues in the field for content and face validity and was then piloted to a sample of 50 adults and was adjusted accordingly.…”

“…In other Middle Eastern countries, several studies were performed to assess knowledge about influenza vaccine and vaccine acceptance among health care professionals, but not knowledge about influenza illness and its vaccine among the general adult population or children (8)(9)(10). Other studies were implemented worldwide to assess knowledge about influenza and its vaccine acceptance in children (11,12), adults (13) and GPs (14)(15)(16). Concerns about the safety and the efficacy of influenza vaccine-and physician recommendation for having the vaccine-were the most commonly reported determinants of influenza vaccine acceptance (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16).…”

“…Other studies were implemented worldwide to assess knowledge about influenza and its vaccine acceptance in children (11,12), adults (13) and GPs (14)(15)(16). Concerns about the safety and the efficacy of influenza vaccine-and physician recommendation for having the vaccine-were the most commonly reported determinants of influenza vaccine acceptance (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16). Despite the presence of many worldwide surveys addressing this topic, till date, we are not aware of any comprehensive study that has assessed the state of knowledge, awareness and practice of adult and children towards seasonal influenza and its vaccine in Jordan, or in the Middle East.…”