Determinants of parental readiness for childhood vaccination: experiences, information, sociodemographics and adherence.

BACKGROUND

High childhood vaccination coverage is critical for safeguarding public health. Sustaining high coverage requires effective infrastructure and delivery systems, as well as attention to individual decision-making, which is shaped by social, psychological and contextual factors. To optimize uptake, vaccination programmes must account for these influences and their interactions.

METHODS

To advance understanding on parental childhood vaccination readiness and to inform strategies for maintaining high uptake, we conducted a survey in August 2023 among 2077 parents in Norway whose children (aged 0-5 or 8-16 years) were age-eligible for the national Childhood Immunization Programme (CIP). We examined factors associated with childhood vaccination readiness among parents using the validated 7C model, which assesses seven psychological antecedents of vaccination and provides an overall readiness score.

RESULTS

Overall parental childhood vaccination readiness was high. However, lower readiness was significantly associated with negative experiences with vaccination services, not being sufficiently informed about vaccines at the health clinic, finding vaccination less accessible, and sociodemographic factors. Moreover, reliance on official public health information sources (e.g., child health clinics, government websites) for vaccination decision-making was positively associated with readiness, while reliance on social media, YouTube, or religious institutions corresponded with lower readiness. Overall readiness was also associated with vaccination behaviors: parents who had previously declined or postponed childhood vaccinations had substantially lower vaccination readiness scores.

CONCLUSION

These findings show that experiential, informational and sociodemographic factors are associated with parents' childhood vaccination readiness. Efforts to improve communication and trust, including in parent-provider encounters, may be crucial to maintaining high and equitable coverage in childhood vaccination programmes.