Vaccine distrust: Investigation of the views and attitudes of parents in regard to vaccination of their children

Caudal, H.; Briend-Godet, V.; Caroff, Nathalie; Moret, L.; Navas, Dominique; Huon, Jean‐François

doi:10.1016/j.pharma.2020.03.003

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…It is essential to increase parental knowledge, as this can significantly reduce parents’ vaccine hesitancy (Awad et al, 2019; Jarrett et al, 2015). Parents, even those who are opposed to vaccination, seek as much and more valid scientific information as possible, so that they can make their final decision (Caudal et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of real-world parents’ acceptance to vaccinate their children against the COVID-19

Galanis¹,

Vraka

Σίσκου

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background: As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to threaten public health, the vaccination of children against the disease appears to be a key factor to control the pandemic. Objective: To investigate the prevalence of parents who have vaccinated their children against the COVID-19 and the factors influencing this decision. Methods: We conducted a web-based cross-sectional study in Greece during the first week of September 2021. The study questionnaire was distributed through social media and a convenience sample was obtained. Only parents with children aged 12-17 years old could participate in the study. We collected socio-demographic data of parents and we measured their attitudes towards vaccination and COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Study population included 656 parents. Mean age of parents was 45.5 years, while most of them were mothers with a high level of education. Regarding vaccination, 27.1% of parents had their children vaccinated against the COVID-19, while almost all children had a complete vaccination history (98.9%). The most important reasons for decline of COVID-19 vaccination were doubts about the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines (45.3%) and fear of side effects (36.6%). Regarding the information about the COVID-19 vaccines, parents showed more trust in family doctors than in scientists and the government. Multivariate regression analysis identified that increased parents age, increased trust in COVID-19 vaccines, and positive attitude of parents towards vaccination had a positive effect on children vaccination. Conclusions: Understanding the factors influencing parents' decision to vaccinate their children against the COVID-19 is crucial to increase the COVID-19 vaccination coverage rate. Implementation of public health policies is necessary to spread knowledge about COVID-19 vaccines and to regain vaccine confidence.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of real-world parents’ acceptance to vaccinate their children against the COVID-19

Galanis¹,

Vraka

Σίσκου

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Thus, among the most common fears, there are that some components (adjuvants such as aluminum, preservatives such as mercury, inactivating agents such as formaldehyde, manufacturing residuals such as human or animal DNA fragments and simply the sheer number of vaccines) might be overwhelming, weakening or perturbing the immune system. Aluminum is used as an adjuvant to boost the immune response to the vaccine antigens and is used in a variety of vaccines, including hepatitis A and B, H. influenzae type b and pneumococcal vaccines [19]. The safety of adjuvants has been evident in clinical trials for many decades [20][21][22][23].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality and Safety of Vaccines Manufacturing: An Online Survey on Attitudes and Perceptions of Italian Internet Users

et al. 2021

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Background: Vaccination is a worldwide public health practice that requires high uptake levels in order to effectively reduce the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases. The manufacturing of vaccines is a complex process, and little is known about people’s feelings and opinions on that. Our study aimed at investigating perceptions and attitudes of the general population towards the vaccine production process before the availability of COVID-19 vaccines. Methods: We designed a 15-question online survey in the Italian language which was spread via Facebook and an Italian website "Vaccinarsintoscana" between January and May 2020. We performed a descriptive analysis and applied statistical tests to assess differences in the given answers according to participants’ sociodemographic characteristics. Results: The collected responses (135 participants) about the perceptions on vaccine production process were largely positive: not being concerned about the vaccine production (70.3%); believing the vials did not contain harmful substances (75.6%) and considering the precautionary withdrawal of some batches as highly effective (83.7%). In contrast, a less positive perception was found for the question about the conflict of interest between manufacturing companies and the control systems (48.9%). Moreover, people’s perceptions towards the vaccine components (i.e., microorganism, adjuvants and opinion on batches withdrawal) also showed a good level of confidence and trust. Conclusions: Our study highlighted a generally positive attitude towards the vaccine production process and showed people’s confidence in the control systems, safety and high standards of quality of the vaccine production process.

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“…Although the trend has been on the rise since early October 2020, the headlines of online, printed, and television news publications have often been the subject of criticism from the scientific community as sensationalistic and far from the scientific evidence [42][43][44]. Distrust of vaccines is a growing issue that raises a serious public health question [45][46][47]. Although most vaccine-related fake news circulates on social networks, the national mass media must attend to the evidence presented in the scientific literature with appropriate and thoughtful language.…”

Section: Principal Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of COVID-19 on Conspiracy Hypotheses and Risk Perception in Italy: Infodemiological Survey Study Using Google Trends

Rovetta¹

2021

JMIR Infodemiology

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Background COVID-19 has caused the worst international crisis since World War II. Italy was one of the countries most affected by both the pandemic and the related infodemic. The success of anti–COVID-19 strategies and future public health policies in Italy cannot separate itself from the containment of fake news and the divulgation of correct information. Objective The aim of this paper was to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on web interest in conspiracy hypotheses and risk perception of Italian web users. Methods Google Trends was used to monitor users’ web interest in specific topics, such as conspiracy hypotheses, vaccine side effects, and pollution and climate change. The keywords adopted to represent these topics were mined from Bufale.net—an Italian website specializing in detecting online hoaxes—and Google Trends suggestions (ie, related topics and related queries). Relative search volumes (RSVs) of the time-lapse periods of 2016-2020 (pre–COVID-19) and 2020-2021 (post–COVID-19) were compared through percentage difference (∆%) and the Welch t test (t). When data series were not stationary, other ad hoc criteria were used. The trend slopes were assessed through Sen slope (SS). The significance thresholds have been indicatively set at P=.05 and t=1.9. Results The COVID-19 pandemic drastically increased Italian netizens’ interest in conspiracies (∆% ∈ [60, 288], t ∈ [6, 12]). Web interest in conspiracy-related queries across Italian regions increased and became more homogeneous compared to the pre–COVID-19 period (average RSV=80±2.8, tmin=1.8, ∆min%=+12.4, min∆SD%=–25.8). In addition, a growing trend in web interest in the infodemic YouTube channel ByoBlu has been highlighted. Web interest in hoaxes has increased more than interest in antihoax services (t1=11.3 vs t2=4.5; Δ1%=+157.6 vs Δ2%=+84.7). Equivalently, web interest in vaccine side effects exceeded interest in pollution and climate change (SSvaccines=0.22, P<.001 vs SSpollution=0.05, P<.001; ∆%=+296.4). To date, a significant amount of fake news related to COVID-19 vaccines, unproven remedies, and origin has continued to circulate. In particular, the creation of SARS-CoV-2 in a Chinese laboratory constituted about 0.04% of the entire web interest in the pandemic. Conclusions COVID-19 has given a significant boost to web interest in conspiracy hypotheses and has made it more uniform across regions in Italy. The pandemic accelerated an already-growing trend in users’ interest toward some fake news sources, including the 500,000-subscriber YouTube channel ByoBlu, which was removed from the platform by YouTube for disinformation in March 2021. The risk perception related to COVID-19 vaccines has been so distorted that vaccine side effect–related queries outweighed those relating to pollution and climate change, which are much more urgent issues. Moreover, a large amount of fake news has circulated about COVID-19 vaccines, remedies, and origin. Based on these findings, it is recommended that the Italian authorities implement more effective infoveillance systems, and that communication by the mass media be less sensationalistic and more consistent with the available scientific evidence. In this context, Google Trends can be used to monitor users’ response to specific infodemiological countermeasures. Further research is needed to understand the psychological mechanisms that regulate risk perception.

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Vaccine distrust: Investigation of the views and attitudes of parents in regard to vaccination of their children

Cited by 10 publications

References 7 publications

Predictors of real-world parents’ acceptance to vaccinate their children against the COVID-19

Predictors of real-world parents’ acceptance to vaccinate their children against the COVID-19

Quality and Safety of Vaccines Manufacturing: An Online Survey on Attitudes and Perceptions of Italian Internet Users

The Impact of COVID-19 on Conspiracy Hypotheses and Risk Perception in Italy: Infodemiological Survey Study Using Google Trends

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