Pediatricians' perceptions of vaccine effectiveness and safety are significant predictors of vaccine administration in India (original) (raw)
Related papers
Vaccine, 2012
Introduction: According to the World Health Organization in 2008, pneumonia accounted for 20% of deaths and diarrheal diseases accounted for 13% of deaths among children under 5 in India. Vaccines are available for Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV)), Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib vaccine), and rotavirus. Barriers to including these vaccines in routine immunization schedule in India include potential negative impacts on fragile existing immunization programs and cost. Pediatricians who are members of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) are important stakeholders for vaccine delivery and maintaining public confidence in vaccines. Methods: A random sample of 785 pediatricians belonging to IAP was selected for the survey conducted from June 2009 to June 2010. Descriptive analyses using sampling weights were performed to evaluate the distributions of variables assessing vaccine-related attitudes and behaviors among pediatricians. Logistic regression was used to assess factors associated with routine vaccine use. Results: The majority of pediatricians reported administering PCV (85.6%), Hib (95.9%), and rotavirus (80.2%) vaccine selectively or routinely. Pediatricians who had high perceived disease susceptibility were 2.42 times more likely to report routine administration of Hib vaccine (OR 2.42, 95% CI 1.24, 4.74). Pediatricians who had high perceived Hib vaccine efficacy were 4.74 times more likely to administer Hib vaccine routinely (OR 4.74, 95% CI 2.09, 10.74). Perceptions of disease susceptibility and severity or of vaccine safety and efficacy were not associated with routine administration of PCV or rotavirus vaccine. Conclusions: Understanding predictors of routine use of a new vaccine could help focus interventions to improve the routine use of other vaccines. The importance of perceived susceptibility to and severity of diseases caused by S. pneumoniae, Hib, and rotavirus and perceived efficacy and safety of the vaccines by pediatricians presents an opportunity to design strategies to build support for new vaccine introduction and may have important implications for national immunization policy in India.
International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health
Background: Japanese encephalitis (JE) vaccination in India started in 2006 with SA-14-14-2 live attenuated JE vaccine (JEV) following large outbreaks of JE in some districts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in 2005. Age groups 1-15 yrs are first vaccinated with a single dose of JEV in a campaign mode followed by integration of this vaccine in routine immunization. It is beyond doubt that added to vaccination campaigns, proper awareness on JE can play significant role in controlling the disease.Methods: An observational study with cross sectional design was conducted in Kolkata Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata during JE Vaccination campaign during January, 2018 among 85 respondents, to assess the awareness on JE, among care-givers who brought their children for vaccination at the immunization clinic.Results: It was found that only 37.6% the respondents attending the campaign knew the name of the disease; 17.6% respondents were aware about disease transmission, and 5.9% could ...
Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, 2012
Background: India has some of the lowest immunization rates in the world. The objective of this study was to determine the attitudes and practices of pediatricians and physicians working in primary health centers (PHCs) regarding routine immunization and identify correlates of missed opportunities to vaccinate children. We focused on Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which has faced some of the greatest challenges to achieving high routine immunization coverage. Methods: A sample of pediatricians from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar was selected from the national membership of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics to participate in either a phone or mail survey. For the sampling frame, the PHCs within selected blocks were enumerated to provide a list from which individuals could be randomly sampled. In all, 614 PHCs in Uttar Pradesh and 159 PHCs were selected for in-person surveys. Results: The response rate for pediatricians was 47% (238/505) and 93% for PHC physicians (719/773). The greatest barrier to vaccinating children with routine immunizations, reported by both pediatricians (95.7%) and PHC physicians (95.1%), was parents' lack of awareness of their importance. Correlates of missing an opportunity to vaccinate for PHC physicians included holding other health care workers responsible for vaccination. PHC physicians were 50% to 70% less likely to vaccinate a child themselves if they thought another type of health care worker was responsible. Conclusions: Future interventions to increase vaccination coverage should address parental knowledge about the importance of vaccines. Understanding and addressing factors associated with missed opportunities to vaccinate may help improve vaccine coverage in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Parents' knowledge, attitude, and practice on childhood immunization
International Journal of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology, 2015
Immunization is the most cost-effective and the highestimpact health intervention which reduces hospitalization, treatment expenditure, and mortality. 1 Despite the success of Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) many vaccinepreventable diseases are remaining prevalent in developing countries like India (more than 5 lakh death annually in our country). 2 According to the WHO, over 1.5 million children die from vaccine-preventable diseases globally and current immunization programs save more than 3.2 million lives each year and additional 1.7 million lives a year can be saved by full utilization of the existing vaccines. 3 By increasing immunization coverage to above 80%, disease transmission can be interrupted, whereby unimmunized children are also protected because of the herd immunity. 4 To achieve this goal a full course of potent vaccines should be given at the right time. EPI in India was revised and renamed as Universal Immunization Program (UIP), and it recommends that, bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG), oral polio vaccine (OPV), triple antigen, measles and hepatitis B vaccines should be included in the routine immunization schedule. The Indian Academy of Pediatrics has recommended other additional vaccines such as Haemophilus influenzae Type b (Hib), typhoid, hepatitis A, chickenpox and measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) as optional. At present, optional vaccines are being actively promoted by the family practitioners and pediatricians. Many of them are being promoted directly by the vaccine manufacturing companies through the distribution of printed educational materials to doctors and even advertisements in the media. Acceptance of any vaccination program is largely dependent on knowledge and attitude of the mothers, 5,6 provision of the services, 6 density of health workers and the opportunity costs ABSTRACT Background: The objective of present study was to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practices of parents regarding childhood immunization. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in immunization clinic at Vanivilas hospital, a government tertiary care center (G) attached to Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute and a private pediatric clinic (P) in Bengaluru. Data were collected from 200 parents/guardians (100 from each set up) using structured questionnaire administered by the investigators. Results: Out of 200 parents surveyed, 172 (86%) children were found to be fully immunized. The sickness of child was the most common cause (67%) for missing vaccination. A statistically significant proportion of boys (95%) were completely immunized as compared to girls (84%, p<0.01). Most of them knew that vaccination prevented some communicable diseases but were unaware as to which diseases they prevented and that the immunity is not lifelong. Knowledge (p<0.004) and practice (p<0.001) of parents opting for optional vaccines were significantly higher in private setting compared to the government setting. All mothers opined that compliance to immunization schedule is important, had recommended vaccination to others and maintained a vaccination card. Gender of the child, birth order, mothers' educational status, monthly income of parents and religion significantly affected the vaccination status while mother's employment did not influence it. Conclusion: Although childhood immunization practices and attitudes are satisfactory, majority do not have specific knowledge on vaccines and the duration of protection they offer. Socio-demographic factors had a significant influence on the immunization status. Hence, efforts should be focused on improving them also besides educating them about vaccines to improve their knowledge.
Perceptions and attitudes towards adult vaccinations: A cross sectional study from Karnataka, India
2020
Background: Since its advent in the 17 century, vaccines have come a long way in preventing diseases and raising the standards of health across the globe. In adults, vaccine-preventable diseases such as pneumonia, hepatitis B, tetanus etc. are a source of morbidity and mortality. However, in India, much like the rest of the world, children remain the focus of vaccination and its importance and need in adults is yet to be emphasized. Objectives: A cross-sectional study to gauge the perceptions and attitudes towards adult vaccinations. Methods: Individuals working in the information technology sector of companies were approached. Data was collected via an online and physical questionnaire. Responses were documented in Microsoft Excel following which data compilation and analysis was carried out. Results: In our study population (N=171), only 31.57% were aware of adult vaccines. 6.43% believed that vaccines do not prevent illness. 13.11% believed that vaccines themselves caused illness...
2016
Background: One of the most cost-effective health interventions is immunization. Parental awareness regarding vaccines influences the immunization rate to a great extent. This study evaluates the awareness regarding newer vaccines among parents, to understand their perception towards immunization, to determine the association of their knowledge with selected demographic variables and to identify solutions to address the knowledge gap. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Lotus Children’s Hospital, Hyderabad, India from June 2013-June 2014. Immunization knowledge and attitude among 550 parents was evaluated through a questionnaire. Results: Eighty percent of the parents were unaware that there are few vaccines which are in the recommended immunization calendar, but are not administered as per national program. Most of the parents are unaware of the newer vaccines being available and the disease prevented by them. Parents have misconceptions regarding vaccine efficacy,...
Trends in immunotherapy, 2024
Objectives: This study aimed to assess the hesitancy towards vaccination and to identify the factors and predictor variables within the study population. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study conducted via a web-based platform where a validated questionnaire was circulated among the public to understand their hesitancy towards vaccination. WHO SAGE Working Group Questionnaire was used to collect the data. The predictors for hesitancy were determined by using bivariate logistic regression analysis and the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy was identified. Results: A total of 353 subjects enrolled in the study during the 6 months of the study. Among them, 133 (37.67%) subjects showed vaccine hesitancy. On performing the bi-variate analysis, it was found that among the subsets studies those who were more hesitant to receive vaccines were females (OR: 1.476); individuals who are widowed/separated/divorced (OR: 3.109), age 40-49 yrs (OR: 3.710); from a rural (OR: 1.277) and not graduated (OR: 1.077). These subsets were predictors identified for vaccine hesitancy. Among the vaccines, maximum hesitancy was observed for the chicken pox vaccine [47 (13.31%)], followed by TCV [25 (7.08%)] and Rota [24 (6.79%), whereas the minimum hesitancy was observed for BCG [2 (0.56%)], OPV [4 (1.13%)] and IPV [8 (2.26%)]. Reasons provided for the hesitancy observed were mainly (i) Did not think it was needed [163 (46.17%)], (ii) Did not think the vaccine was safe [41 (11.61%)] and (iii) Did not know where to get vaccinated [24 (6.79%)]. Conclusion: The study observed less vaccine hesitancy among vaccines included in the EPI program. A major contributing factor for VH among the study population was their wrong perception about vaccines as that is not needed and not safe. Hence, there is a real need for education to the population to improve vaccine confidence among the general population.
Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical and Clinical Research Journal, 2022
Objectives: There is evidence of morbidity and mortality in children due to COVID-19 infection. "Vaccine Hesitant Parents (VHPs)" may act as barriers to vaccination of children and their knowledge, attitude, beliefs, and perceptions come into play. Health-care providers are cited as the most important source for vaccine information by VHPs, and provider recommendation for vaccination is crucial for improving vaccine uptake. Hence, we aim to study among Indian health-care professionals having children <18 years of age, the prevalence of parental hesitancy for pediatric COVID-19 vaccine and to assess their knowledge, attitude, beliefs, and perceptions about pediatric COVID-19 vaccine. Methods: An observational, cross-sectional study was conducted across India through a web-based questionnaire amongst health-care professionals having children less than 18 years of age by Snowball sampling technique. Descriptive statistics were used to study the demographic profile, the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy, and individual factors. Correlations between the datasets were obtained using regression analysis and significance level using the Chi-square test. Results: The prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy for children in Indian health-care professionals is 3.3%. The most important source of information was the internet and social media. The majority of the participants knew about the vaccine and its side effects (p=0.00) and believed in the usefulness of the vaccine in preventing infection (p=0.008) and in reducing severity (p=0.009). All these factors lead to better vaccine acceptance. Conclusion: These data show that vaccine acceptance has improved over time and thus HCWs can aid in reducing vaccine hesitancy.
WHO South-East Asia Journal of Public Health, 2013
Background: Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) causes significant morbidity and mortality among young children in India. Hib vaccines are safe and efficacious; nevertheless, their introduction to India's national immunization programme has been hindered by resistance from certain sectors of academia and civil society. We aimed to ascertain the attitudes and perceptions of Indian paediatricians towards Hib disease and vaccination. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey of knowledge, attitude and practices on Hib and vaccines was undertaken among 1000 Indian paediatricians who attended 49 th National Conference of Indian Academy of Pediatrics in 2012 through use of a 21-point questionnaire. Results: 927 (93%) paediatricians completed the survey. 643 (69%) responded that Hib is a common disease in India. 788 (85%) reported prescribing Hib vaccine to their patients and 453 (49%) had done so for the past 5-15 years. Hib vaccine was used in combination with other vaccines by 814 (88%) of the participants. 764 (82%) respondents thought Hib vaccine effective while 750 (81%) thought it to be safe. Fever, pain and redness were the most frequently reported post vaccination side-effects. 445 (48%) paediatricians ranked universal use of Hib vaccine in the national immunization programme as the most important strategy to prevent and control Hib disease in India. Conclusion: The excellent profile as reported by a large number of paediatricians from throughout India further strengthens evidence to support expanded use of currently available Hib vaccines. These findings should encourage the Government of India to initiate mass use of this vaccine nationwide.
An evaluation of attitude toward vaccines among healthcare workers of a
Background. Vaccination is an effective and safe health technology. Despite this vaccine coverage falls short of national and international targets. Study design. The aim of the study was to evaluate the views of medical staff at Messina University Hospital regarding vaccinations, their current and future vaccination status and whether they recommend it to their patients. Methods. The study was conducted from April 2016 to March 2017 by an anonymous face-to-face questionnaire submitted to HCWs. Results. A general lack of confidence and insecurity about vaccination was shown by a substantial proportion of physicians analyzed while pediatricians showed a positive attitude to vaccines. However, many physicians had not been immunized with the recommended vaccines for HCWs and therefore represent a potential source of infection for both patients and the general population. Conclusions. Despite the evidence of the effectiveness and safety of vaccines, compliance by HCWs remains very low for a variety of reasons. A range of measures are therefore needed to ensure their use, not only by the general population, but also by doctors who should be their major promoters.