Are Recent Medical Graduates More Skeptical of Vaccines?
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Experimental Section
2.1. Design
2.2. Survey
Constructs for Provider Vaccine Beliefs | ||
---|---|---|
Construct | Question | Disease/Vaccine |
Disease Susceptibility | How likely do you think an unimmunized child in the United States is to get the following diseases during the next ten years? (Response Options: Impossible, Not Likely, Somewhat likely, Likely, Very Likely) | Polio Invasive Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) Varicella/chicken pox Hepatitis B Invasive Pneumococcal Disease Influenza |
Disease Severity | If an 8-year old child got these diseases, how likely is the child to be seriously ill? (Response Options: Not serious at all, Not very serious, Somewhat serious, Serious, Very Serious) | |
Vaccine Efficacy | How well do you think each of these vaccines prevents disease? (If the child completes the full recommended series) (Response Options: Not protective at all, Not very protective, Somewhat protective, Protective, Very Protective) | Polio (Inactivated/IPV) vaccine Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) conjugate vaccine Varicella/chicken pox vaccine Hepatitis B vaccine S. pneumoniae conjugate (Prevnar/PCV7) vaccine Influenza (inactivated) vaccine |
Vaccine Safety | How safe do you think these vaccines are? (Response Options: Very unsafe, Unsafe, Somewhat safe, Safe, Very safe) |
2.3. Data Analysis
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Results
3.2. Discussion
Key Immunization Beliefs (Response Options: Strongly disagree, Disagree, Neither agree or disagree, Agree, Strongly agree) | Agree or Strongly Agree | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
n | % | OR a | 95% CI b | |
Children should only be immunized against serious diseases | 236 | 44.2 | 0.97 | 0.88–1.1 |
Children get more immunizations than are good for them | 43 | 8.1 | 1.2 | 1.0–1.4 |
I am concerned a child’s immune system could be weakened by too many immunizations | 32 | 6.0 | 1.02 | 0.83–1.3 |
I am more likely to trust immunizations that have been around for a while | 373 | 69.5 | 0.98 | 0.89–1.1 |
Immunizations are one of the safest forms of medicine ever developed | 431 | 81.2 | 0.76 c,d | 0.67–0.87 |
Immunizations are getting better and safer all of the time as a result of medical research | 473 | 89.1 | 0.84 | 0.71–0.98 |
Vaccines strengthen the immune system | 358 | 67.6 | 1.1 | 1.0–1.2 |
For the overall health of a child, it is better for them to develop immunity by getting sick than to get a vaccine | 28 | 5.2 | 1.2 | 0.92–1.4 |
Healthy children do not need immunizations | 18 | 3.4 | 1.0 | 0.79–1.3 |
Immunizations do more harm than good | 21 | 3.9 | 1.3 | 1.0–1.8 |
I am opposed to school immunization requirements because they go against freedom of choice | 32 | 6.0 | 1.3 | 1.0–1.6 |
I am opposed to school immunization requirements because parents know what is best for their children | 13 | 2.4 | 1.2 | 0.86–1.6 |
School immunization requirements protect children against getting diseases from unimmunized children | 474 | 88.4 | 0.91 | 0.78–1.1 |
4. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Conflict of Interest
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Share and Cite
Mergler, M.J.; Omer, S.B.; Pan, W.K.Y.; Navar-Boggan, A.M.; Orenstein, W.; Marcuse, E.K.; Taylor, J.; DeHart, M.P.; Carter, T.C.; Damico, A.; Halsey, N.; Salmon, D.A. Are Recent Medical Graduates More Skeptical of Vaccines? Vaccines 2013, 1, 154-166. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines1020154
Mergler MJ, Omer SB, Pan WKY, Navar-Boggan AM, Orenstein W, Marcuse EK, Taylor J, DeHart MP, Carter TC, Damico A, Halsey N, Salmon DA. Are Recent Medical Graduates More Skeptical of Vaccines? Vaccines. 2013; 1(2):154-166. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines1020154
Chicago/Turabian StyleMergler, Michelle J., Saad B. Omer, William K.Y. Pan, Ann Marie Navar-Boggan, Walter Orenstein, Edgar K. Marcuse, James Taylor, M. Patricia DeHart, Terrell C. Carter, Anthony Damico, Neal Halsey, and Daniel A. Salmon. 2013. "Are Recent Medical Graduates More Skeptical of Vaccines?" Vaccines 1, no. 2: 154-166. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines1020154