Investigating parental perceptions of side effects following vaccination

dataset

posted on 2024-02-21, 11:06 authored by Louise SmithLouise Smith, James RubinJames Rubin

Background: One of the major factors contributing to parental refusal of vaccinations is the perception that vaccines cause side effects. Although symptoms are commonly reported following vaccinations, their causes are not always straightforward. Although some may be directly attributable to the vaccine itself, others may reflect pre-existing or coincidental symptoms that are misattributed to the vaccine.

Purpose: To investigate psychological factors associated with parental report of side effects following vaccination with the child influenza vaccine, parental intention to re-vaccinate one’s child the following year, and actual rates of re-vaccination.

Methods: A prospective cohort study was run in primary care practices in London in the 2016–17 influenza season (ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT02909855). Two hundred seventy parents from 14 practices completed a questionnaire before their child’s vaccination. Follow-up questionnaires were completed 3 days after vaccination and one month after vaccination. Parental report of side effects and vaccination intention for the subsequent year were measured. Re-vaccination was measured at the end of the 2017-18 influenza season.

Results: Parental report of side effects was strongly associated with pre-vaccination expectation of side effects. Suggestions received from the media, National Health Service (NHS) vaccination leaflet, and health care workers, as well as uncertainty-related beliefs, perceived sensitivity of the child to medicines, pessimism, and anxiety were also associated with reporting side effects. Side effect report was associated with lower vaccination intention for the following influenza season. Eighteen percent of children were not re-vaccinated for influenza in 2017/18. Parental report of severe side-effects three days after vaccination (p = .04) and worry about side-effects one month after vaccination (p = .05) were associated with not re-vaccinating.

Conclusions: Side effect perception following vaccination is influenced by psychological factors, in particular expectations. Perceiving side effects reduces future vaccination intention. Future public health communications should aim to decrease unrealistic expectations of side effects to increase vaccine uptake.

Ethical approval for the study was granted by the NHS Research Ethics Committee (reference: IRAS ID: 192325, REC reference: 16/LO/1003). Following ethical approval, the dataset will be retained until 01/06/2027, then deleted.

Funding

Economic and Social Research Council Doctoral Training Centre Studentship

NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emergency Preparedness and Response

National Institute for Health Research

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History

Geospatial coverage

London

Data collection from date

2016/10/01

Data collection to date

2018/04/30

Collection method

Participants completed T1 materials before their child’s influenza vaccination, at the primary care practice or online (link sent to parents of children in an information letter about the study, via the primary care practice). T2 and T3 materials were emailed to parents and completed online. If parents did not have access to email, materials were completed by telephone (n = 13). At the end of the T2 questionnaire we asked parents for consent to access their child’s vaccination records for 2017/18. If consent was granted, we accessed vaccination records at the end of the 2017/18 vaccination campaign at each primary care practice. Where needed, we also contacted parents via email or telephone at this point.