Factors Associated with Vaccination Status of Neonates in the Tertiary Referral Department of Neonatology and Neonatal Intensive Care in the North-Eastern Region of Poland.

Introduction

Effective strategies to increase vaccination acceptance should be targeted to a given community. We decided to conduct a study analyzing the immunization status of neonates and factors influencing it in the Department of Neonatology and Neonatal Intensive Care of the Medical University of Bialystok, Poland. Material and

Methods

The retrospective study was conducted between 2015 and 2024. Vaccinations against tuberculosis (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine) and against hepatitis B (1st dose) were analyzed. The multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between immunization status and neonates' characteristic.

Results

88.35% of the neonates (N = 18,643) received both vaccines. Of the 2459 unvaccinated neonates, 965 (39.24%) were due to parental refusal, with 720 (74.61% of this subgroup) refusing both vaccines. The fact that the neonate did not receive both vaccines was associated with the following variables: mother's age (p = 0.004), place of residence (p = 0.012), parity (p = 0.002), and gestational age (p = 0.000).

Conclusions

The analysis revealed a specific group of neonates who are at risk of not receiving both vaccines: term neonates born to multiparous mothers aged ≥35 years and living in cities. These results may suggest which patients, in particular, should be taken into account when designing strategies to increase vaccine acceptance in the area covered by the study.