The crucial role immunization has had in reducing the incidence of vaccine-preventable disease cannot be overstated. Most parents believe in the importance of immunization for their children – 77% of Washington toddlers have the vaccines they need, compared to 80% nationally1. Yet public perception about immunization is changing. Parental concerns about vaccine safety are on the rise, posing a significant challenge for healthcare providers.
It is common to encounter parents who have tough questions about the need for, or safety of, childhood vaccines2. Some parents choose to delay or forgo immunizing their children with a few or all of the recommended vaccines. This is likely to increase as new vaccines are added to the already complex childhood immunization schedule. In order to continue to protect children and our communities from vaccine-preventable diseases, healthcare providers must understand and be sensitive to parents’ concerns and respond to their questions with accurate and timely information.
Research has repeatedly shown that physicians are parents’ most trusted and important source of information and advice about immunizations3. An ability to make a strong immunization recommendation and provide satisfactory answers to parents’ questions about vaccines, in a calm, non-confrontational, and respectful manner, is regarded as the optimal way to have a positive influence on vaccine decision-making4.
Responding effectively to parents’ concerns, by understanding differing views of vaccine risks and benefits and vaccine safety issues, can make a difference and ultimately assist parents in making fully informed immunization decisions for their children.
What you can do:
- Stay current with the ACIP Recommended Childhood and Adolescent Immunization schedule.
- Educate yourself about the common parental concerns and how to respond to them.
- Begin the discussion about immunization early. Ask questions to help determine parental concerns.
- Provide parents with Vaccine Information Statements, educational resources, and reliable websites.
- Engage parents in a decision-making partnership.
- Order FREE copies of these two parent education materials that provide information about vaccine safety developed by the Washington Sate Department of Health.
- Immunization: A Guide to Protecting your Child
- Plain Talk about Childhood Immunizations
Below is a list of website resources that will assist you in responding to a variety of immunization-related questions and concerns currently raised by parents.
Provider Resources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
- Immunization Action Coalition (IAC): www.immunize.org/concerns/
- National Network of Immunization Information (NNii): www.immunizationinfo.org/immunization_issues_detail.cfv?id=52
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center (CHOP): www.vaccine.chop.edu
- WA State Department of Health (DOH): www.doh.wa.gov/cfh/immunize/
- CHILD Profile Washington State Immunization Registry: www.childprofile.org
- CDC National Immunization Survey 2005, based on the 4-3-1-3-3 vaccination series.
- Gust DA, Strine TW, Maurice E, Smith P, Yusuf H, Wilkinson M, Battaglia M, Wright R, and Schwartz B. Underimmunization Among Children: Effects of Vaccine Safety Concerns on Immunization Status. Pediatrics. 2004;114(1):e16-e22.
- Ball LK, Evans G, Nostrom A. Risky business: challenges in vaccine risk communication. Pediatrics. 1998; 101:453-458.
- Gellin BG, Maibach EW, Marcuse EK. Do parents understand immunizations? A national telephone survey. Pediatrics. 2000;106 :1097 –1102.