Search Results (6)

Background: Childhood vaccination remains one of the most effective public health interventions. Despite consistently high national coverage, vaccine hesitancy persists among parents and may undermine herd immunity. The Parent Attitudes about Childhood Vaccines (PACV) questionnaire provides a validated framework for identifying parental concerns and patterns of hesitancy. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in May 2025 using the Croatian version of the Parent Attitudes about Childhood Vaccines (PACV) questionnaire. The study included 1087 parents aged 18–65 years. PACV scores were transformed to a 0–100 scale, with values ≥50 indicating vaccine hesitancy. Associations between PACV scores and parental age and educational level were analysed using non-parametric statistical tests. Results: Most respondents were mothers (87.7%) and aged between 30 and 45 years (71.8%). Approximately one fifth of parents reported postponing vaccination (22.7%), and 19.2% indicated having refused at least one vaccine dose. While 63.7% expressed full acceptance of recommended childhood vaccines, a substantial proportion either refused vaccination (20.8%) or remained undecided (15.5%). Higher educational attainment was significantly associated with lower PACV scores, whereas no significant association was observed with parental age. Conclusions: Although overall vaccination acceptance in Croatia remains high, vaccine hesitancy continues to affect a considerable proportion of parents. Strengthening tailored communication strategies and reinforcing trust-based counselling—particularly within pediatric and community nursing services—may support informed decision-making and improve vaccine confidence. Full article

Background and Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on immunisation and vaccination attitudes worldwide. The aim of this study was to determine and compare the attitudes of parents towards childhood vaccines by questioning them separately about the periods before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: This study included parents aged 18–49 years with a child below the age of 5 years who presented at family healthcare centres in a province of Türkiye. The study data form consisted of socio-demographic characteristics and the Parent Attitudes Toward Childhood Vaccines (PACV) scale. An increase in scale scores indicates a negative change in childhood vaccination attitude. Results: A total of 1038 parents participated in the study. The results showed that after the pandemic there was an increase in the total and all the subscale points, which was determined to be statistically significant for the total (p < 0.001) and safety–efficacy points (p < 0.001). Before the pandemic, statistically significantly higher PACV scale points were determined for rural dwellers, the safety–efficacy and total PACV points of females, behaviour and attitude points of those with an education level of primary school or lower, after the pandemic safety–efficacy points of females and those with primary school or lower level of education, and attitude, safety–efficacy, and total scores of those living in rural areas (p < 0.05 for all values). The pandemic was seen to have affected the relationship between education level, number of children, and behaviour subscale (p = 0.004 and p = 0.001, respectively). After the pandemic, there was a statistically significant increase in the mean PACV points of all parents (p < 0.001). Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative effect on parents’ attitudes towards childhood vaccines. Efforts should be made to overcome these negative effects to be able to prevent outbreaks of diseases that can be prevented by childhood vaccines. Full article

Children with chronic medical conditions are more susceptible to developing a serious negative outcome from corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) than healthy children. This study investigated the extent of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (VH) and its predictors in parents of children with chronic liver disease (CLD) in Egypt. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the National Liver Institute from September to October 2022, using a random sampling method. Data were collected using the validated Arabic version of parents’ attitudes about childhood vaccines (PACV) scale. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and discriminant analysis were used to identify direct and indirect determinants of VH. Results: Of the 173 participating parents, 81.5% hesitated to vaccinate their child. Relevant characteristics for hesitancy included being the mother of the child (88.2%), younger than 40 years (92.9%), illiterate (92%), unemployed (88.8%), without health insurance (87.8%), unvaccinated against COVID-19 (97.2%), refused to complete vaccinations (85.7%), and not having chronic disease (85.7%) (p < 0.05). Previous COVID-19 infection of children motivated vaccination (p < 0.0001). Median total PACV, attitude, and trust scores were significantly higher in the hesitant group than the vaccinated group (p = 0.023). SEM suggests that child age and family size have a direct effect, while education level, and income have indirect effects on parents’ hesitancy. The model showed acceptable goodness of fit (GFI = 0.994, CFI = 1, RMSEA < 0.0001). A 92.9% corrected classification of the discriminator VH variables was determined using the discriminant analysis model (safety and efficacy, attitude and trust, child age, and family size). Conclusions: Many socioeconomic factors significantly affect parents’ attitudes toward their child’s vaccination. Thus, increasing parents’ awareness of the importance of childhood vaccination, especially among this risky group, may enhance their decision-making ability regarding vaccinating their children. Full article

Vaccination hesitancy (VH) is an important public health issue. The determinants of parental decisions on whether to vaccinate their children are multidimensional and need to be carefully considered in the COVID-19 era. Our study aims to investigate the prevalence of VH among parents, parents’ use of social media, and their attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine upon vaccine refusal. Materials and methods: Our participants were the parents of children admitted to hospitals in three different cities in Turkey between September 2021 and December 2021. The parents were asked to complete sociodemographic data and their attitudes toward COVID-19 diseases, the Parental Attitudes Toward Childhood Vaccines (PACV) scale, and the Attitudes Toward COVID-19 Vaccine (ATV-COVID-19) scale. Participants were categorized as “non-hesitant”, with a score of <50, and “hesitant”, with a score of ≥50. Results: A total of 1087 parents with a mean age of 33.66 (SD 9.1) years old participated in the study. VH was noted in 102 (9.38%) parents. Age, gender, education, and income levels did not significantly differ from one another, according to the PACV; however, parents who delayed vaccinating their children and indicated that social media had an impact on vaccination decisions were more hesitant. Parents who were male and had a family member diagnosed with COVID-19 showed more positive attitudes in the ATV-COVID-19. Parents who were hesitant about childhood vaccinations had lower positive attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine (2.84 ± 0.97) than parents who were not hesitant (3.77 ± 0.9). A total of 761 (70.14%) parents need more information about childhood immunizations. Conclusion: Parents who are hesitant about childhood immunization programs in Turkey have a less positive attitude toward COVID-19 vaccines and are affected by social media. Parents need information about vaccines, and because the controversy surrounding COVID-19 vaccines can diminish parents’ confidence in routine childhood immunizations, understanding the complex causes behind vaccination hesitancy can help public health policy break through barriers and increase immunization rates. Full article

Vaccine uptake is one of the indicators that has been used to guide immunization programs. This study aimed to evaluate whether measles vaccine uptake is predicted by measles vaccine hesitancy. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in urban districts in Khartoum state in February 2019. Measles vaccine uptake among children was measured as either fully vaccinated or partially/not vaccinated. The Parent Attitudes about Childhood Vaccines (PACV) scale was used to measure measles vaccine hesitancy. Multivariate logistic regression was run to identify the predictors of measles vaccination uptake, controlling for sociodemographic variables, and the adjusted odds ratios (aORs) with 95% CI were calculated. The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was created, and the area under the curve (AUC) for the PACV was computed. Data were collected from 495 participants. We found that measles vaccine hesitancy (PACV scores) predicts the uptake of measles vaccine after controlling for other potential social confounders, such as the mother’s age and the number of children (aOR 1.055; 95% CI 1.028–1.028). Additionally, the ROC for the PACV yielded an area under the curve (AUC 0.686 (95% CI 0.620–0.751; p < 0.001)). Our findings show that measles vaccine hesitancy in Sudan directly influences the uptake of the measles vaccine. Addressing the determinants of vaccine hesitancy through communication strategies will improve vaccine uptake. Full article

It is unclear whether information given about the benefits and risks of routine childhood vaccination during consent may cue parental vaccine hesitancy. Parents were surveyed before and after reading vaccine consent information at a public expo event in Sydney, Australia. We measured vaccine hesitancy with Parent Attitudes about Childhood Vaccine Short Scale (PACV-SS), informed decision-making with Informed Subscale of the Decisional Conflict Scale (DCS-IS), items from Stage of Decision Making, Positive Attitude Assessment, Vaccine Safety and Side Effect Concern, and Vaccine Communication Framework (VCF) tools. Overall, 416 parents showed no change in vaccine hesitancy (mean PACV-SS score pre = 1.97, post = 1.94; diff = −0.02 95% CI −0.10 to 0.15) but were more informed (mean DCS-IS score pre = 29.05, post = 7.41; diff = −21.63 95% CI −24.17 to −18.56), were more positive towards vaccination (pre = 43.8% post = 50.4%; diff = 6.5% 95% CI 3.0% to 10.0%), less concerned about vaccine safety (pre = 28.5%, post = 23.0%, diff = −5.6% 95% CI −2.3% to −8.8%) and side effects (pre = 37.0%, post = 29.0%, diff = −8.0% 95% CI −4.0% to −12.0%) with no change in stage of decision-making or intention to vaccinate. Providing information about the benefits and risks of routine childhood vaccination increases parents’ informed decision-making without increasing vaccine hesitancy. Full article