Influenza Vaccine Attitudes, Intent, and Receipt

Influenza vaccine is recommended as routine care for all individuals who are at least 6 months of age and older. Recently, questions about vaccine safety and concerns for side effects have increased, contributing to both influenza vaccine hesitancy and refusal. In an effort to educate parents and patients, public health entities and physicians give informational handouts in various forms. However, recent publications have found that pro-vaccine messages can have paradoxical effects on vaccine intentions, therefore further studies on vaccine related public health communication is needed. Few, if any, studies have analyzed the relationship between influenza vaccine attitudes and intention with actual vaccine receipt in the pediatric population. These results will help to understand the relationship between parent's vaccine perception and the intent to vaccinate versus the child's receipt of the influenza vaccine, as well as to optimize educational information given to families regarding the influenza vaccine.