Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Nov 27;24(1):3303.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-20845-7.

Parental vaccine hesitancy toward routine childhood immunizations and COVID-19 vaccines in Japan: A cross-sectional study

Aya Saitoh  1 , Yugo Shobugawa  2
Affiliations

Parental vaccine hesitancy toward routine childhood immunizations and COVID-19 vaccines in Japan: A cross-sectional study

Aya Saitoh et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to elucidate the prevalence and characteristics of parental vaccine hesitancy towards routine infant immunizations and COVID-19 vaccines in Japan.

Methods: A web-based survey was conducted among 3,227 parents of children aged 0-11 years to assess vaccine-related hesitancy for routine infant immunizations and COVID-19 vaccines for children using the Parent Attitudes about Childhood Vaccines (PACV) questionnaire. Data were collected from January 18 to 25, 2023. Covariates included demographic characteristics, economic status, COVID-19 infection status, decisional conflict scale, and the fear of COVID-19 Scale.

Results: Vaccine hesitancy was found to be 52.4% for routine infant immunizations and 73% for COVID-19 vaccines. Significant differences in parental attitudes were observed between general childhood vaccines and COVID-19 vaccines for 12 out of 13 PACV survey items. The COVID-19 vaccines showed higher hesitancy rates in 10 items; largest discrepancies were noticed in schedule adherence (22.5% vs 61%), overall hesitancy (40% vs 55.1%), and trust in pediatric doctors (37.2% vs 53.6%). Safety concerns were high for both vaccine types, exceeding 50%. Multivariable analysis identified decisional conflict (RR: 1.01 95% CI: 1.00-1.02) and COVID-19-related fear (RR: 1.04, 95% CI: 1.02-1.05) as hesitancy predictors for routine immunizations.

Conclusion: Vaccine-related hesitancy for COVID-19 was significantly higher than that for routine immunizations, with decisional conflict emerging as a primary predictor for both. Fear of COVID-19 was associated with routine immunization-related hesitancy. These findings provide critical insights for future pandemic preparedness and vaccine acceptance strategies, highlighting the importance of strengthening trust between healthcare providers and parents, providing clear and reliable information, and implementing decision support tools.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccine; Childhood vaccine; Japan; Vaccine hesitancy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Niigata University (approval no. 2022–0076). Participants' responding to the survey was considered as their consent to participate. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Parental responses to vaccine hesitancy toward childhood vaccines in general and COVID-19 vaccine for children
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Parental responses to the Parent Attitudes about Childhood Vaccines (PACV) survey
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan. COVID-19 vaccines (2023). https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/english/index.html Accessed 21 July 2024.
    1. Minister of Health Labour and Welfare. Amendment: order of COVID-19 vaccine program. 2023. https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001069171.pdf. Accessed 21 July 2024.
    1. Prime minister of Japan and his cabinet. COVID-19 vaccines (2024). https://japan.kantei.go.jp/ongoingtopics/vaccine.html. Accessed 21 July 2024.
    1. Marti M, de Cola M, MacDonald NE, Dumolard L, Duclos P. Assessments of global drivers of vaccine hesitancy in 2014-Looking beyond safety concerns. PLoS ONE. 2017;12: e0172310. 10.1371/journal.pone.0172310. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yoda T, Katsuyama H. Willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccination in Japan. Vaccines. 2021;9: 48. 10.3390/vaccines9010048. - PMC - PubMed

Substances

LinkOut - more resources