Comparison of attitude of Indian and Russian parents to children’s vaccination

Background. The vaccine preventable diseases outbreaks have become more frequent in recent decades and the lack of global vaccine awareness has been increasing and deteriorating vaccine compliance.   The aim. To assess the attitude towards vaccination of parents from India and Russia.   Methods. 1620 parents from Russia (Irkutsk city) and 214 parents from India (Kerala state) took part in the international cross-sectional multicenter study via survey method.   Results. Parents from both countries showed good adherence to vaccination, only 1 % of Indians and 2 % of Russians did not vaccinate their children. More than 90 % of Russians took information from pediatricians compared with other sources with a prevalence of pediatricians working in the public health system 91.7 % (95 % CI: 90.2–92.9), whereas only 50 % of Indians were informed about vaccination from pediatricians (p < 0.0001). The main source of vaccine information for Indian parents was Internet (52.8 %; 95 % CI: 46.1–59.3) and mass-media (83.6 %; 95% CI: 78.1–87.9), whereas Russians resorted to this source much less (0.3 %; 95 % CI: 0.1–0.7 for Internet; and 4.3 %; 95 % CI: 3.4–5.4 for mass-media; p < 0.0001). Interestingly, while the vast majority of Russians received information about vaccination from a pediatrician, 71.2 % (95 % CI: 68.9–73.3) wanted to know more. Indians suffered from a lack of information too, but not as much (63.1 %; 95 % CI: 56.4–69.3; p = 0.01).   Conclusion. Despite of a good attitude to vaccination of parents from India and Russia the lack of vaccine information was registered

Attitude and awareness of Indian parents from Kerala state towards children’s vaccination at the COVID-19 pandemic background

Background. Vaccination coverage of children in India is not sufficient since the COVID-19 pandemic (less than 90 %). This may lead to low adherence of parents to children’s vaccination.The aim. To study parental attitudes and awareness towards children vaccination programs in India at the COVID-19 pandemic background.Methods. Two hundred and fourteen participants from Kerala state (India) took part in the descriptive cross-sectional study via survey method. The survey was prepared with Google form according the principles of anonymity.Results. Indian parents demonstrated good adherence towards children’s vaccination, 98.6 % (95% confidence interval (CI): 95.9–99.5) of them vaccinated their child, and if vaccination appointment had to be rescheduled 84.6 % (95% CI: 79.1–88.8) of  them vaccinated children after. Most of Indians (68.7  %; 95%  CI: 62.1–74.5) preferred to vaccinate children in state clinics, however, 28.5 % (95% CI: 22.8–34.8) chose private clinics. Information about diseases that vaccines can prevent, vaccine safety, and side effects 47.2 % (95% CI: 40.6–53.8) of parents got from public pediatricians, 50.9 % (95% CI: 44.2–57.5) – from private pediatricians, and 10.3 % (95% CI: 6.8–15.0) – from complementary and alternative medicine practitioners. Over 80 % of Indians were informed about vaccination through mass media (83.6%; 95% CI: 78.1–87.9). Indian parents showed low awareness about vaccination, because 63.1 % (95% CI: 56.4–69.2) of parents wanted to know more about vaccination. Moreover, before vaccination 21.5 % (95% CI: 16.5–27.4) of them were not informed by a doctor about health benefits and possible risks for their children.Conclusion. In the COVID-19 pandemic Indian parents showed good attitude towards vaccination and low awareness in vaccination questions