Sherman, SM;
Lingley-Heath, N;
Lai, J;
Sim, J;
Bedford, H;
(2023)
Parental acceptance of and preferences for administration of routine varicella vaccination in the UK: A study to inform policy.
Vaccine
, 41
(8)
pp. 1438-1446.
10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.01.027.
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Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To explore acceptability of and preferences for the introduction of varicella vaccination to the UK childhood immunisation schedule. DESIGN: We conducted an online cross-sectional survey exploring parental attitudes towards vaccines in general, and varicella vaccine specifically, and their preferences for how the vaccine should be administered. PARTICIPANTS: 596 parents (76.3% female, 23.3% male, 0.4% other; mean age 33.4 years) whose youngest child was aged 0-5 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Willingness to accept the vaccine for their child and preferences for how the vaccine should be administered (in combination with the MMR vaccine [MMRV], on the same day as the MMR vaccine but as a separate injection [MMR + V], on a separate additional visit). RESULTS: 74.0% of parents (95% CI 70.2% to 77.5%) were extremely/somewhat likely to accept a varicella vaccine for their child if one became available, 18.3% (95% CI 15.3% to 21.8%) were extremely/somewhat unlikely to accept it and 7.7% (95% CI 5.7% to 10.2%) were neither likely nor unlikely. Reasons provided by parents likely to accept the vaccine included protection from complications of chickenpox, trust in the vaccine/healthcare professionals, and wanting their child to avoid their personal experience of chickenpox. Reasons provided by parents who were unlikely included chickenpox not being a serious illness, concern about side effects, and believing it is preferable to catch chickenpox as a child rather than as an adult. A combined MMRV vaccination or additional visit to the surgery were preferred over an additional injection at the same visit. CONCLUSIONS: Most parents would accept a varicella vaccination. These findings highlight parents' preferences for varicella vaccine administration, information needed to inform vaccine policy and practice and development of a communication strategy.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Parental acceptance of and preferences for administration of routine varicella vaccination in the UK: A study to inform policy |
| Location: | Netherlands |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.01.027 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.01.027 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | Varicella, Vaccination, Routine immunisation, Children, Parents, Acceptance, Preference, Vaccine hesitancy, Chickenpox |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10165793 |
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