Research indicates acceptance of childhood vaccination in schools

A survey carried out with 2 thousand Brazilian mothers reached a percentage of 76% who consider the school as the ideal place for childhood vaccination. The study was carried out by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer and by the Locomotiva Institute and released shortly before the World Immunization Week, which takes place between April 24th and 30th. The responses indicate that mothers would like to be helped by the school to keep the vaccination schedule up to date.

Eight out of ten mothers agreed with the statement “it would be very practical if my son/daughter’s vaccination could take place at school”, and, for 85%, “if there were the possibility of vaccination taking place at school childhood vaccination coverage could be greater”.

School vaccination is a strategy advocated by immunization specialists as a tool to increase vaccination coverage, which has been falling in the country since 2015. With percentages below the target that guarantees herd immunity, vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and polio can reappear in the country or spread more easily.

The questionnaire applied in the five regions of the country also showed that 81% of the interviewees would be safe with vaccination inside the school if they knew that it would be carried out by qualified health professionals. According to the survey, 91% of mothers say they would probably authorize their children to receive doses at school. Among them, three out of four say that the decision would even depend on the type of vaccine administered.

Betting on the school as a source of information and a place to facilitate access to vaccines is in line with some of the problems pointed out by the survey itself: 68% of the participants say they have already felt confused about the immunization of their children, 39% have already stopped vaccinating due to difficulties to get to the posts and 56% report that, with the day-to-day demands, they ended up forgetting their children’s vaccination dates.

The mothers interviewed consider the lack of information and knowledge about vaccination the main obstacle to vaccination. For 17% of mothers, lack of confidence in vaccines is one of the reasons that hinders.

inequalities

Photograph: Fabio Rodrigues-Pozzebom/ Agência Brasil

The interviews showed that half of the mothers in classes A/B have some type of follow-up that helps them remember the day to vaccinate their children, while this percentage is only 25% for mothers in the North Region. Northerners, along with black mothers and mothers from the D/E classes, are the ones who have less information, assistance and access to vaccines.

Northern mothers, for example, are the ones who most frequently report having missed a day of work to catch up on vaccinations. Pediatrician Renato Kfouri, president of the Scientific Department of Immunizations of the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics (SBP), recalls that the North and Northeast regions of the country have the lowest indicators of childhood immunization.

“It is important to consider the impact of social inequality within this scenario so that we can seek solutions that help to overcome each of the obstacles faced by families in immunizing their children”, he says.

The medical director of Pfizer, Adriana Ribeiro, says that the objective of the research is to help deepen the evaluation of the scenario of drop in vaccine coverage, so that more effective solutions can be found.

“We know that this issue was aggravated by the pandemic, but we are talking about a multifactorial, complex problem, influenced by several elements, whether social, economic, behavioral or information”, evaluates the medical director. “By listening to the mothers, most of whom are directly responsible for managing their children’s immunization, we propose a more in-depth look at this complex scenario based on the study, as a way of contributing to the search for solutions that can really transform the vaccination situation current”.

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Health
childhood vaccination
World Immunization Week