The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on UK parents' attitudes towards routine childhood vaccines: A mixed-methods study.

Publisher: Public Library of Science Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101285081 Publication Model: eCollection Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1932-6203 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 19326203 NLM ISO Abbreviation: PLoS One Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: San Francisco, CA : Public Library of Science

COVID-19*/prevention & control ; COVID-19*/epidemiology ; COVID-19*/psychology ; Parents*/psychology ; COVID-19 Vaccines*/therapeutic use ; COVID-19 Vaccines*/administration & dosage ; Vaccination*/psychology ; Focus Groups*; Humans ; Female ; Male ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; United Kingdom/epidemiology ; Adult ; Child ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Pandemics/prevention & control ; Middle Aged ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Child, Preschool

Background: COVID-19 vaccines were key to controlling the pandemic and vaccination has been discussed extensively by the media and the public since 2020. We aimed to explore parents' attitudes towards routine childhood vaccination since COVID-19 and how the pandemic impacted their experiences of getting their child vaccinated.
Methods: We used a mixed-methods approach-involving a questionnaire survey followed by focus groups. We partnered with The Mosaic Community Trust, an ethnic minority women's group based in a deprived area of North-West London, United Kingdom (UK) with historically low childhood vaccine uptake. Descriptive findings from the questionnaires were reported and chi-square analyses performed to examine differences by ethnicity. Thematic analysis of the free-text questionnaire responses and focus groups was undertaken, guided by the COM-B model of Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation.
Results: Between Jun-Oct 2022, 518 parents completed the questionnaire (25% from ethnic minorities). Between March-May 2023 we held four focus groups with 22 parents (45% from ethnic minorities). Most parents (>90%) thought routine childhood vaccines for children were important. Over a third (38%) of all parents reported having more questions about childhood vaccines since COVID-19, though among parents belonging to an ethnicity group other than white, 59% said they had more questions compared to those of any white ethnicity group (30%, (p = <0.0001)). Difficulties accessing vaccine appointments were commoner reasons for children's vaccinations being delayed than parents increased concerns about vaccines. Since COVID-19 some parents felt vaccinations were even more important, and a very small minority felt the pandemic had made them mistrust vaccinations.
Conclusion: Following COVID-19, we found parents remain confident in childhood vaccines. However, some parents, particularly from ethnic minority groups may have more questions about childhood vaccines than pre-pandemic. Post COVID-19, to address declining vaccine uptake, parents need easy access to healthcare professionals to answer questions about childhood vaccinations.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2024 Skirrow et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

BMC Public Health. 2023 Oct 17;23(1):2025. (PMID: 37848866)
BMJ. 2021 Jul 23;374:n1866. (PMID: 34301635)
Nat Rev Immunol. 2022 Sep;22(9):527-528. (PMID: 35896830)
J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2022 Feb;9(1):184-192. (PMID: 33469869)
BMC Med Res Methodol. 2019 Mar 28;19(1):66. (PMID: 30922220)
BMJ Open. 2022 Jun 1;12(6):e058956. (PMID: 35649595)
Soc Sci Med. 2021 Jul;280:114052. (PMID: 34051560)
BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2022 Jan 14;22(1):33. (PMID: 35030996)
Arch Dis Child. 2022 Aug;107(8):733-739. (PMID: 35361613)
Lancet Glob Health. 2022 Feb;10(2):e186-e194. (PMID: 34951973)
Vaccine. 2023 Sep 22;41(41):6127-6133. (PMID: 37659897)
Vaccine. 2017 May 19;35(22):2979-2985. (PMID: 28442229)
BMJ. 2023 Oct 24;383:2426. (PMID: 37875295)
BMC Pediatr. 2012 Sep 21;12:154. (PMID: 22998654)
EClinicalMedicine. 2022 Jun;48:101454. (PMID: 35611343)
Nat Med. 2022 Mar;28(3):456-459. (PMID: 35273403)
Vaccine. 2020 Jul 14;38(33):5297-5304. (PMID: 32561120)
Vaccine. 2024 Jan 12;42(2):322-331. (PMID: 38072757)
Pediatrics. 2021 Oct;148(4):. (PMID: 34344800)
Vaccine. 2018 Oct 29;36(45):6726-6735. (PMID: 30266484)
J Community Health. 2022 Feb;47(1):39-52. (PMID: 34297272)
J Epidemiol Community Health. 2017 Jun;71(6):544-549. (PMID: 27531844)
N Engl J Med. 2022 Apr 21;386(16):1532-1546. (PMID: 35249272)
PLoS One. 2020 Dec 28;15(12):e0244049. (PMID: 33370323)
Euro Surveill. 2020 May;25(19):. (PMID: 32431288)
Narra J. 2021 Apr;1(1):e7. (PMID: 38449777)
Vaccine. 2022 Aug 12;40(34):4942-4954. (PMID: 35811204)
Vaccine. 2015 Aug 14;33(34):4165-75. (PMID: 25896384)
Lancet Reg Health Eur. 2022 Feb;13:100313. (PMID: 35098198)
BJGP Open. 2021 Oct 26;5(5):. (PMID: 34404634)
Lancet Infect Dis. 2020 Aug;20(8):875. (PMID: 32687807)
PLoS One. 2022 Dec 27;17(12):e0279285. (PMID: 36574421)
Narra J. 2022 Aug;2(2):e85. (PMID: 38449698)
Vaccine. 2018 Aug 28;36(36):5397-5401. (PMID: 28818568)
Vaccine. 2020 Nov 17;38(49):7789-7798. (PMID: 33109389)
Nat Hum Behav. 2022 Dec;6(12):1609-1610. (PMID: 36418535)

0 (COVID-19 Vaccines)

Date Created: 20240813 Date Completed: 20240813 Latest Revision: 20240815

20240815

PMC11321586

10.1371/journal.pone.0306484

39137199