What lies behind the low rates of vaccinations among nurses who treat infants?

Trust and the demand for autonomy may explain the low rates of immunizations among nurses

“…There is evidence that levels of trust in health authorities decreased after the A(H1N1) influenza scare 30 and other studies have also identified trust to be an important factor in acceptance of vaccines such as the acceptance of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine among mothers of 8-14 y old girls. 31 In our qualitative study 29 there were nurses that expressed strong feelings against the demand to be vaccinated generally, and especially against A(H1N1). Some of them felt the authorities did not know what they were doing and were not consistent in the information they gave, and therefore could not be trusted.…”

“…Attitudes identified in a previous qualitative study with a similar population of nurses were developed into a quantitative questionnaire. 29 These attitudes included lack of trust in the information and recommendations that the health authorities published, especially during the A(H1N1) influenza pandemic. In the qualitative study, these feelings of lack of trust were strongly expressed; however, in this quantitative study less than 20% expressed them.…”

“…The next vaccine they were asked to get happened to be against pertussis, therefore their lack of trust was turned toward it. 29 In a survey of HCW and medical students in a German university hospital during an influenza vaccination campaign, 16.4% of the 1,645 respondents reported that the A(H1N1) pandemic had influenced their attitudes toward vaccinations in general. 32 Velan et al 30 identified distrust as a key element in the attitudes of their survey respondents.…”

“…They expressed negative feelings toward the vaccines such as fear of a new vaccine, fear of the side effects and more. 29 In addition, it seemed that the A(H1N1) influenza scare had an effect on the nurses' attitudes toward pertussis and other vaccines.…”

Factors affecting uptake of recommended immunizations among health care workers in South Australia

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Despite this, HCW uptake of recommended vaccines is low 2,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] , particularly for seasonal influenza and pertussis. 13,[16][17][18][19] In Australia, both pertussis and seasonal influenza vaccines are recommended for all HCWs 17 however providing free influenza vaccine is a policy decision for each hospital or state and is not uniform across Australia.…”