Vaccination is among the major fields of development in the global history of public health. In Western countries, particularly in Italy, however, in the last two decades, a growing wave of anti-vaccine groups has emerged. Our aim in the Trentino-Alto Adige region of Italy with lowest coverage was to assess the hesitation and awareness of adults on vaccines and related diseases. In June 2019, in Trentino Province, the researchers administered automatically organised questionnaires in three malls. In the quest for health information, they gathered demographic information and information about vaccination, infectious diseases and attitudes. In order to analyse factors correlated with vaccine resistance, they used descriptive and multivariate analysis. They obtained 567 questionnaires, 18% of interviewees reluctant to vaccinate, and 16% reluctant to vaccinate. In the multivariable study, vaccine hesitancy was correlated with bad knowledge, younger than 60 years and compulsory immunisation. In relation to vaccine knowledge, 76.5% of people depended on doctors and/or 49% navigated the Internet, while 16% of the study population used social media.
The degree of vaccine hesitation was higher compared to an earlier study in all of Italy with the exception of Trentino Alto Adige. In order to disseminate scientific knowledge on vaccination, it is necessary to use the health, internet and in particular social media.
Reference: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21645515.2020.1763085
