Predictors for influenza vaccination among Thai pregnant woman: The role of physicians in increasing vaccine uptake

Abstract

Background Physician recommendation and attitudes and beliefs of pregnant women toward influenza and vaccination may influence vaccine uptake during pregnancy. We examined how physician recommendation and health beliefs of pregnant women may jointly affect influenza vaccination during pregnancy. Methods Thai pregnant women aged ≥18 years and >13 gestational weeks attending antenatal care (ANC) clinics, and ANC physicians were recruited during May‐August 2015. Women and physicians, linked using unique identifiers, provided data on demographic, health and work history, knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs toward influenza and vaccination, based on Health Belief Model constructs. Physicians also provided data on their practices in recommending influenza vaccination during pregnancy. Prevalence ratios for the association between knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of pregnant women, physician recommendation and documented receipt of vaccination within 30 days of the visit were calculated. Results Among 610 women, the median age was 27 years; 266 (44%) and 344 (56%) were in the second and third trimesters, respectively. Twenty‐one (3%) had pre‐existing conditions. Of 60 physicians with the median years of practice of 5; 17 (28%) reported frequently/usually/always recommending influenza vaccine to their pregnant patients, while 43 (72%) reported never/rarely/sometimes recommending the vaccine. Controlling for the pregnant women's knowledge and beliefs, pregnant women whose physician recommended influenza vaccination were 2.3 times (95% confidence interval 1.4‐3.8) more likely to get vaccinated. Conclusions In this study, physician recommendation was the only significant factor associated with influenza vaccine uptake among Thai pregnant women. Understanding physicians’ motivation/barrier to recommending influenza vaccination to pregnant women may increase coverage.

Knowledge, attitude/perception, and practice related to seasonal influenza vaccination among caregivers of young Thai children: A cross-sectional study

“…An agreement with the Thai MOPH’s recommendation for influenza vaccination was a determinant of vaccination in young children in this study as has also been reported in another study conducted in other risk group in Thailand [ 23 ]. Not surprisingly, this study along with other studies in China [ 6 , 9 ], Taiwan [ 24 , 25 ] and Hong Kong [ 26 ] also suggested that children with an experience of influenza vaccination in the past were more likely to receive influenza vaccination in the current year [ 7 – 9 ].…”

What do pregnant women think about influenza disease and vaccination practices in selected countries

“…First, we were only able to perform an analysis of factors associated with vaccination with data from Lima because less than 5% of the participants from Nagpur and Bangkok received vaccine during pregnancy. Nonetheless, the findings from the analysis of the Lima site were consistent with the literature, [7][8][9][30][31][32][33][34] where vaccination recommendation by health-care providers remains a key predictor for vaccination among pregnant women. Second, while our surveys were based on the standardized surveys assessing KAPs, we may have missed other variables that could be associated with vaccination like offer and availability of influenza vaccine.…”

A little shot of humility: Intellectual humility predicts vaccination attitudes and intention to vaccinate against COVID‐19

“…For example, a demographically representative sample from the community can be randomly assigned to write about intellectual humility or a control, then, immediately answer questions about their vaccination attitudes and intentions. Then, researchers can follow-up with them anywhere from 30 days to 1 year as in previous studies investigating vaccine uptake (Cassidy et al, 2014;Kaoiean et al, 2019) to assess whether the intellectual humility manipulation affected vaccine uptake. By employing the experimental medicine framework, researchers can more effectively evaluate the potential benefits of intellectual humility in a methodical and systematic way.…”