Vaccination Confidence and Parental Refusal/Delay of Early Childhood Vaccines.

Monday, 18th of July 2016

PLoS One. 2016 Jul 8;11(7):e0159087. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0159087. eCollection 2016.

Vaccination Confidence and Parental Refusal/Delay of Early Childhood Vaccines.

Gilkey MB¹ McRee AL² Magnus BE³ Reiter PL⁴ Dempsey AF⁵ Brewer NT⁶.

Author information

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To support efforts to address parental hesitancy towards early childhood vaccination we sought to validate the Vaccination Confidence Scale using data from a large population-based sample of U.S. parents.

METHODS:

We used weighted data from 9354 parents who completed the 2011 National Immunization Survey. Parents reported on the immunization history of a 19- to 35-month-old child in their households. Healthcare providers then verified childrens vaccination status for vaccines including measles mumps and rubella (MMR) varicella and seasonal flu. We used separate multivariable logistic regression models to assess associations between parents mean scores on the 8-item Vaccination Confidence Scale and vaccine refusal vaccine delay and vaccination status.

RESULTS:

A substantial minority of parents reported a history of vaccine refusal (15%) or delay (27%). Vaccination confidence was negatively associated with refusal of any vaccine (odds ratio [OR] = 0.58 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.54-0.63) as well as refusal of MMR varicella and flu vaccines specifically. Negative associations between vaccination confidence and measures of vaccine delay were more moderate including delay of any vaccine (OR = 0.81 95% CI 0.76-0.86). Vaccination confidence was positively associated with having received vaccines including MMR (OR = 1.53 95% CI 1.40-1.68) varicella (OR = 1.54 95% CI 1.42-1.66) and flu vaccines (OR = 1.32 95% CI 1.23-1.42).

CONCLUSIONS:

Vaccination confidence was consistently associated with early childhood vaccination behavior across multiple vaccine types. Our findings support expanding the application of the Vaccination Confidence Scale to measure vaccination beliefs among parents of young children.