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Half of the parents in the Region do not vaccinate their children against the flu due to lack of informationJuan Carlos Caval

The importance that Murcian families give to vaccines is beyond any doubt. Vaccination coverage for respiratory viruses such as influenza in recent years is “acceptable and promising”. Despite this, there is still room for improvement and it is still necessary to “increase the participation of family doctors, nurses and primary care paediatricians” so that more children are immunized against the flu year after year.

And half of the parents who did not vaccinate their children against the flu in the Region of Murcia They did it because their pediatrician did not recommend it or because they did not have the necessary information about the immunization campaign.

This is reflected in one of the main conclusions drawn from the first part of the studio ‘Flutetra’prepared by professionals who are part of the Health Prevention and Protection Service program of the Vaccination Program of the Ministry of Health during the 2022-2023 campaign and in which the flu vaccination in Murcian children under five years of age is analyzed, the probability that parents vaccinate their children, as well as the comparison in the profile of parents who do or do not vaccinate their children.

The first results of the research, which has been recently published, have already come to light and confirm that “the clinical context of parents and children was decisive in making decisions about vaccination, especially the parents’ previous and current vaccination.” .

Jaime Pérez.

Thus, this important study has had the participation and assessment of some 10,000 parents and legal representatives of minors, of which some 4,970 stated that they vaccinated their children against the flu and just over 5,000 confessed that they did not do it.

Among the main reasons given in the survey for not vaccinating minors was that the reference health professional did not recommend it (31% in the case of babies from 6 to 23 months and in 17.9% of children from 24 to 59 months). The “lack of information about the vaccine” also gained weight (by 21.5% and 15%, respectively), as well as that “they would prefer to wait until they have more experience with the flu vaccine” (almost 18% and 22%, respectively).

The ‘Flutetra’ study confirms that only 1% of those surveyed in the Region do not believe in vaccines

To protect them

On the other side of the scale, when asked why they decided to vaccinate their children, the most repeated response by parents in both groups was “to protect the child”, with a significantly higher percentage in the first group (89 .4% vs. 85.9%). Other reasons for vaccination were “on the recommendation of the pediatrician or doctor” (44.3% both), “to protect other family members” (21.3% vs. 32.6%) or “due to inclusion in the program vaccination” (24.4% vs 24.7%).

In this sense, the study points out that the most cited source of information about the flu vaccination campaign was the pediatrician or nurse recommendation.

All this data serves the Ministry’s professionals to try to further encourage families in the upcoming vaccination campaigns against these respiratory viruses. Jaime Pérez, president of the Spanish Association of Vaccinology and deputy director of Prevention, Health Promotion and Addictions of the Ministry of Health, affirms that all these issues have increasingly been taken into account for the current 2023/2024 campaign.

Immunization against rotavirus, waiting to start

After the proven success with the incorporation of the vaccine against bronchiolitis in newborns and babies during this 2023/2024 campaign, now the Ministry of Health hopes to do the same with the rotavirus vaccine. Jaime Pérez confirms that the Region is immersed “in the final process” to begin administering, within this first half of the year, doses to minors against this virus, the main cause of severe diarrhea in babies and which can also lead to vomiting, fever and dehydration.

Given these data, Pérez reminds La Opinión that “it is important to keep in mind that perhaps in this campaign there were part of the population that did not even ask their health professional for this possibility.

Lack of awareness

“More awareness is needed,” he says. “We must work more to try to raise awareness among more and more professionals to inform families about the importance of the vaccine.”

Here the president of the Spanish Association of Vaccinology also highlights that approximately 10% of parents with children between 24 and 59 months responded that they had not been able to vaccinate them because they considered that there was no easy access to vaccination.

“As a result of this, in the current campaign, flu vaccination has been launched at school so that access for parents is much easier.” In this fact, adds the specialist in Preventive Medicine and Public Health, “the results of the survey have also been taken into account in order to ensure better vaccination coverage.”

Few deniers

Also Matilde Zornoza, pediatrician at the Vaccine Service of the Ministry of Health, remembers that last season 2022-2023 the Community was, along with Andalusia and Galicia, the three communities that began vaccinating children under five against the flu. Pérez remembers that although Murcia was a pioneer in incorporating this vaccination for minors; in other European countries, the United Kingdom and the United States, it had already been implemented years ago..

Finally, Jaime Pérez highlights the low percentage of ‘anti-vaccines’ in the Region: only 1% of the parents surveyed who did not vaccinate their children argued that it was due to not believing in its beneficial effects for health protection: « It is a very positive fact”, since this is a “problem” that, a priori, “fortunately” does not significantly affect the Region.

High degree of satisfaction

The data from this study reflect that parents vaccinated against influenza “vaccinate their children five times more than those who are not immunized.” It is also observed that those who have a more complete vaccination schedule are 3.5 times more likely to have been vaccinated against influenza.

They are part of the conclusions with which the Public Health and Vaccines team of the Ministry of Health works. Jaime Pérez especially highlights that “the satisfaction” of parents once they decided to immunize their children is also “very important.”

Almost 70% of those surveyed were “very satisfied” with the vaccination and almost 30% were “sufficiently satisfied.” Only approximately 2% of the total families that participated in the study were dissatisfied with vaccination.

2024-02-18 05:00:39
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