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. 2019 Mar 25;19(1):342.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-6655-y.

Strategies to improve maternal vaccination acceptance

R Wilson  1 , P Paterson  2 , H J Larson  2
Affiliations

Strategies to improve maternal vaccination acceptance

R Wilson et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: In England, influenza and pertussis vaccination has been recommended for all pregnant women since 2010 and 2012 respectively. However, in some areas, vaccination uptake rates have been low. A qualitative study was conducted to gain a contextualised understanding of factors influencing vaccination acceptance during pregnancy in Hackney, a borough in north-east London, UK. This paper draws on in-depth insights gained from the above study, to provide recommendations for increasing long-term maternal vaccination acceptance.

Methods: Hackney was chosen as the study site because it has one of the lowest vaccination coverage rates in pregnancy in the UK. A maximum variation sampling method was used to recruit 47 pregnant and recently pregnant women from a wide range of backgrounds, as well as ten healthcare professionals from three general practices; two community antenatal clinics; nine parent-toddler groups; and four community centres. In-depth interviews and a video-recording of a pregnant patient's consultation, explored experiences of care within the National Health Service during pregnancy, and women's views about maternal vaccination. In-depth interviews with healthcare professionals explored their views towards, and how they discuss and provide maternal vaccination. Study data were analysed both deductively, through drawing on insights from anthropological works that address diverse conceptualisations and practices around vaccination; and inductively, with a thematic analysis approach.

Results: The findings of this study and the recommendations based on them were divided into five broad themes: access to maternal vaccination; healthcare institution rhetoric and its effect on maternal vaccination acceptance; community and family influences on maternal vaccination decisions; healthcare professionals' views towards maternal vaccination; and the influence of patient-healthcare professional relationships on maternal vaccination acceptance.

Conclusions: The strategies to improve maternal vaccination acceptance recommended in this paper would engender a more open and democratised healthcare system.

Keywords: Access to healthcare; Maternal vaccination; Vaccination acceptance; Vaccine hesitancy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

An ethics application received favourable opinion from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) Ethics Committee (reference 10,429) and the NHS Integrated Research Application System (IRAS), (reference 15/LO/2189, IRAS project ID 186948). All participants declared informed consent and signed a consent form before participating in the study. Pseudonyms were assigned to each participant.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

References

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