Barriers and physician's role in acceptance or rejection of #influenza #vaccination-Study in S. Iran http://t.co/8gsu3jbL
Landes Bioscience, Objective: Vaccination provides the most effective
protection against maternal, fetal and neonatal complications of
influenza infection. This study aimed to determine the uptake rate of
influenza vaccination including 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza and
seasonal influenza vaccination and the reasons for acceptance or
rejection among pregnant women.
Method: This questionnaire based study was conducted at obstetrics and
maternity hospitals affiliated with Shiraz University of Medical
Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Pregnant women were interviewed individually
and privately. SPSS was used for data analysis.
Result: Mean age of the 416 pregnant women enrolled in this study was
27.06 ± 5.27 y. Only 25 (6%) of 397 women had history of vaccination.
Of 383 (92.06%) pregnant women who had rejected vaccination, 116
(30.28%) declared that they lacked information about influenza
vaccination and 44 (11.48%) felt that they did not need vaccination.
Concerns about the safety of influenza vaccination were reported by
only 2 women (0.52%). Of the 25 (6%) pregnant women who were vaccinated
against influenza, 15 (60%) accepted because of advice they received
from persons other than physicians, 5 (20%) believed that influenza
vaccination is necessary for everyone, and 3 (12%) accepted because of
a history of frequent influenza virus infections in previous years.
Conclusion: Most of the unvaccinated and vaccinated pregnant women
lacked sufficient knowledge about influenza. Education of pregnant
women about influenza vaccination and encouragement from physicians may
have a remarkable effect on turning poor compliance into high flu
vaccination uptake among pregnant women.
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