Parents' Views About the Vaccination Program in Taiwan

• Main Authors: Chia-Wan Tang (Author), Shih-Hui Huang (Author), Ken-Pen Weng (Author), Luo-Ping Ger (Author), Kai-Sheng Hsieh (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Elsevier, 2011-04-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 1875-9572; 10.1016/j.pedneo.2011.02.009
• Keywords: awareness; parents' attitude; vaccine; Pediatrics; RJ1-570
• Source: Pediatrics and Neonatology, Vol 52, Iss 2, Pp 98-102 (2011)

To investigate parents' views about new vaccines, we surveyed the attitudes and awareness toward immunization program among parents of children younger than 14 years in Taiwan. Methods: Parents of children were invited to complete a questionnaire in a tertiary referral medical center in Kaoshiung, southern Taiwan from 2006 to 2008. A total of 535 questionnaires were completed. We used descriptive data for the analysis of parents' views and attitudes toward the current vaccination program in Taiwan. Results: Of the 535 respondents, most parents (93%) did not think the current vaccination program was satisfactory. Few (approximately 8%) preferred self-paid vaccines. About 63% of parents believed that the new (self-paid) vaccines provided more protection, whereas 48% deemed them too expensive. The most popular reason for preferring the new vaccines was greater protection (73%). One-half of parents considered the new vaccines to be expensive. Regarding parental awareness of side effect of vaccination, fever was the most well known and of greatest concern (91%). Most parents (68%) had good awareness of conjugated pneumococcal vaccines, and only few (13%) had heard of the human papilloma virus vaccine. Most parental information of vaccines came from pamphlets at the hospital (56%). Conclusion: We found the awareness of parents about new vaccines to be insufficient. They also considered the new vaccines to be expensive.