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Vaccination confidence linked with early childhood vaccination behavior
Vaccination confidence was closely associated with early childhood vaccination behavior across multiple vaccine types, according to study findings published in PloS One.
“We originally created our [Vaccination Confidence Scale] to assess parental beliefs related to adolescent vaccination, and in a prior validation study, we found that parents’ mean Vaccination Confidence Scale scores were consistently associated with vaccine refusal and vaccination status for vaccines in the adolescent platform, including meningococcal and HPV vaccines,” Melissa B. Gilkey, PhD, assistant professor of population medicine at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, and colleagues wrote. “This success raises the possibility that a modified version of our scale could be useful for assessing vaccination beliefs related to early childhood vaccines, including measles-mumps-rubella vaccine.”
The researchers conducted a second validation study of the eight-item Vaccination Confidence Scale using data pooled from the 2011 National Immunization Survey to evaluate correlations between vaccination confidence and vaccine refusal, vaccine delay and vaccination status for vaccines administered in early childhood.
Parents (n = 9,354) were surveyed on the immunization histories of their children aged 19 to 35 months. Health care providers verified respective children’s vaccination status for MMR, varicella and seasonal influenza. To measure associations between the parents’ mean scores on the Vaccination Confidence Scale and vaccination status, refusal and delay, the researchers used separate multivariable logistic regression models.
Gilkey and colleagues reported that vaccination confidence was negatively associated with any vaccine refusal (OR = 0.58, 95% CI, 0.54-0.63), specifically varicella, influenza and MMR vaccines. Negative associations between vaccination confidence and vaccine delay, including delay of any vaccine, also were observed (OR = 0.81, 95% CI, 0.76-0.86). Vaccination confidence correlated positively with children who received vaccines for varicella (OR = 1.54, 95% CI, 1.42-1.66), MMR (OR = 1.53, 95% CI, 1.4-1.68) and seasonal influenza (OR = 1.32, 95% CI, 1.23-1.42).
“These findings suggest that vaccination confidence may be particularly salient for parents of young children, who are faced with relatively frequent decisions about whether or not to accept vaccinations,” Gilkey and colleagues wrote. – by Kate Sherrer
Disclosure: Gilkey reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the full study for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.
