Author Profile

Eve Dubé

Affiliation: Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec, Québec, Canada; Centre de Recherche du CHU de Québec, Université Laval, Québec, Canada

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Vaccine Hesitancy: In Search of the Risk Communication Comfort Zone

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Introduction: This paper reports the findings of a national online survey to parents of children aged 5 and younger. The objectives of the study were to assess parental understanding of childhood immunizations, identify sources of information that they trust for vaccine-related content, assess where parents with young children stand on the key issues in the public debate about vaccination, and identify which risk communication messages are most effective for influencing the behaviours of vaccine hesitant parents.

Methods: A total of 1,000 surveys (closed and open-ended questions) were administered in November 2015 using the Angus Reid Forum Panel, a key consumer panel consisting of approximately 150,000 Canadian adults aged 18 and older, spread across all geographic regions of Canada.

Results: Approximately 92% of the Canadian parents surveyed consider vaccines safe and effective, and trust doctors and public health officials to provide timely and credible vaccine-related information. However, a concerning number of them either believe or are uncertain whether there is a link between vaccines and autism (28%), worry that vaccines might seriously harm their children (27%), or believe the pharmaceutical industry is behind the push for mandatory immunization (33%). Moreover, despite the common assumption that social media are becoming the go-to source of health news and information, most parents still rely on traditional media and official government websites for timely and credible information about vaccines and vaccine preventable diseases, particularly during community-based disease outbreaks. Finally, parents reported high levels of support for pro-vaccine messaging that has been demonstrated in previous research to have little to no positive impact on behaviour change, and may even be counterproductive.

Discussion: The study’s results are highly relevant in a context where public health officials are expending significant resources to increase rates of childhood immunization and combat vaccine hesitancy. The data offer insight into where parents stand on the political and public debate about mandatory vaccination, what aspects of vaccine science remain uncertain to them, which media and institutional sources they use and trust to navigate the health information environment, how they look for information and whom they trust during periods of health emergency or crisis, and which communication strategies are considered most effective in persuading vaccine hesitant parents to immunize their children.

Parental Vaccine Hesitancy in Quebec (Canada)

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Introduction: “Vaccine hesitancy” is a concept frequently used in the discourse around vaccine acceptance. This study aims to contribute to the ongoing reflections on tools and indicators of vaccine hesitancy by providing results of a knowledge, attitudes and beliefs (KAB) survey conducted among parents.

Methods: Data were collected in 2014 through a computer-assisted telephone interview survey administered to a sample of parents of children aged between 2 months and 17 years of age.

Results: The majority of the 589 parents included in the analyses agreed on the importance of vaccination to protect their children’s health and to prevent the spread of diseases in the community. The majority of the parents (81%) reported that their child had received all doses of recommended vaccines and 40% of parents indicated having hesitated to have their child vaccinated. Fear of adverse events and low perceived vulnerability of the child or severity of the disease were the most frequent reasons mentioned by these vaccine-hesitant parents. In multivariate analyses, KAB items remaining significantly associated both with an incomplete vaccination status of the child and parents’ vaccine hesitancy were: not thinking that it is important to have the child vaccinated to prevent the spreading of diseases in the community; not trusting the received vaccination information and having felt pressure to have the child vaccinated.

Discussion: Further researches will be needed to better understand when, how and why these beliefs are formed in order to prevent the onset of vaccine hesitancy.