Parents’ Attitudes toward Childhood Vaccines and COVID-19 Vaccines in a Turkish Pediatric Outpatient Population

Abstract

Vaccination hesitancy (VH) is an important public health issue. The determinants of parental decisions on whether to vaccinate their children are multidimensional and need to be carefully considered in the COVID-19 era. Our study aims to investigate the prevalence of VH among parents, parents’ use of social media, and their attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine upon vaccine refusal. Materials and methods: Our participants were the parents of children admitted to hospitals in three different cities in Turkey between September 2021 and December 2021. The parents were asked to complete sociodemographic data and their attitudes toward COVID-19 diseases, the Parental Attitudes Toward Childhood Vaccines (PACV) scale, and the Attitudes Toward COVID-19 Vaccine (ATV-COVID-19) scale. Participants were categorized as “non-hesitant”, with a score of <50, and “hesitant”, with a score of ≥50. Results: A total of 1087 parents with a mean age of 33.66 (SD 9.1) years old participated in the study. VH was noted in 102 (9.38%) parents. Age, gender, education, and income levels did not significantly differ from one another, according to the PACV; however, parents who delayed vaccinating their children and indicated that social media had an impact on vaccination decisions were more hesitant. Parents who were male and had a family member diagnosed with COVID-19 showed more positive attitudes in the ATV-COVID-19. Parents who were hesitant about childhood vaccinations had lower positive attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine (2.84 ± 0.97) than parents who were not hesitant (3.77 ± 0.9). A total of 761 (70.14%) parents need more information about childhood immunizations. Conclusion: Parents who are hesitant about childhood immunization programs in Turkey have a less positive attitude toward COVID-19 vaccines and are affected by social media. Parents need information about vaccines, and because the controversy surrounding COVID-19 vaccines can diminish parents’ confidence in routine childhood immunizations, understanding the complex causes behind vaccination hesitancy can help public health policy break through barriers and increase immunization rates.

Booster Dose Vaccination and Dynamics of COVID-19 Pandemic in the Fifth Wave: An Efficient and Simple Mathematical Model for Disease Progression

“…Over 10 billion doses have been delivered worldwide [ 7 ]. However, in low-income countries, the vaccination rate remains very low, and some people continue to doubt the benefits and effectiveness of vaccines [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Because of these issues, independent studies are specifically designed to offer evidence of the usefulness of vaccination programs.…”

Worldwide Child Routine Vaccination Hesitancy Rate among Parents of Children Aged 0–6 Years: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cross-Sectional Studies

“…Five different assessment tools were employed in the included articles: Parent Attitudes About Childhood Vaccines (PACV), WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts Vaccine Hesitancy Scale (WHO SAGE VHS), a combination of both PACV and WHO SAGE VHS, Vaccine Confidence Index (VCI), and a self-structured questionnaire. The PACV questionnaire was applied in seven studies, encompassing a total of 5694 parents/caregivers in the countries of Italy [ 29 ], India [ 30 , 31 ], the USA [ 32 ], Canada [ 33 ], and Turkey [ 34 , 35 , 36 ]. The highest number of studies utilized the WHO SAGE VHS, with eight studies involving a sample size of 10,417 parents/caregivers from Pakistan [ 37 ], India [ 38 , 39 ], Cameroon [ 40 ], Ethiopia [ 41 ], China [ 42 ], France [ 43 ], and the Philippines [ 44 ].…”

“…The Vaccine Confidence Index (VCI) was used in Brazil [ 51 ], involving 952 parents, of whom 352 were parents of children under 5 years of age. Out of the 32 countries examined in the study [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ], 21 studies were carried out in countries categorized as high-income by the World Bank, 11 studies in upper-middle-income countries, 9 studies in lower-middle-income countries, and 1 study in a low-income country, specifically Ethiopia. Table 2 provides an overview of the characteristics of all the studies included in the meta-analysis.…”

“… Map of included studies (n = 23) examining the prevalence of child routine vaccination hesitancy among parents of children aged 0–6 years (n = 29,131) [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 ]. …”

The Deficit and Contextual Models of Vaccine Hesitancy: A Test of the Mediation Paths

“…Research studies conducted in Croatia also confirmed that the development speed was a crucial factor for the skepticism, both among the general public (Pavić et al, 2022; Bagić et al, 2022) and among healthcare workers (Miskulin et al, 2022). However, several research studies (Dombrádi et al, 2021; Durmaz et al, 2022; Meier et al, 2021; Olagoke et al, 2022; Romer et al, 2022; Ruiz & Bell, 2021) determined that there was a strong correlation between the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccine types, as well as that socio-demographic correlates of both types of vaccine hesitancy were similar. However, none of the studies was designed to deeply explore other types of determinants or possible differences in their mediation mechanisms.…”