Pertussis vaccination of parents and household contacts to protect newborn children is a well-established technique in many countries, however, adoption is variable. Many factors can impact such decisions. Using an adaptive discrete-choice experiment questionnaire, researchers performed a cross-sectional survey of homes and other close contacts of babies aged 6 months in Spain and Italy. The goals were to determine the relative significance of factors influencing vaccine adoption, as well as to estimate the variance in vaccine adoption rates and the influence of cost on vaccination rates. Six hundred and fifteen people took the survey. The most commonly chosen of the 144 possible questionnaire scenarios were baby protection by household vaccination at a vaccination center, advice by a family physician and health officials, and information accessible on pamphlets and websites. In Spain, the feature with the highest median relative relevance as ‘reduction in source of infection,’ whereas in Italy it was ‘vaccination site.’ Differences in other qualities were minor in both nations, with media variables ranking low. More than 80% of respondents indicated a definite or probable response to vaccine adoption, with an estimated likelihood of adoption of 89–98%; adding vaccination prices would lower the chance of uptake among definite/probable responders by 7–20%.
Knowing about these variables can assist Health Authorities and healthcare practitioners execute a cocooning approach for populations where maternal immunization is not a viable option.
Reference: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21645515.2019.1571890
