Attitude and awareness of Indian parents from Kerala state towards children’s vaccination at the COVID-19 pandemic background

Background. Vaccination coverage of children in India is not sufficient since the COVID-19 pandemic (less than 90 %). This may lead to low adherence of parents to children’s vaccination.

The aim. To study parental attitudes and awareness towards children vaccination programs in India at the COVID-19 pandemic background.

Methods. Two hundred and fourteen participants from Kerala state (India) took part in the descriptive cross-sectional study via survey method. The survey was prepared with Google form according the principles of anonymity.

Results. Indian parents demonstrated good adherence towards children’s vaccination, 98.6 % (95% confidence interval (CI): 95.9–99.5) of them vaccinated their child, and if vaccination appointment had to be rescheduled 84.6 % (95% CI: 79.1–88.8) of  them vaccinated children after. Most of Indians (68.7  %; 95%  CI: 62.1–74.5) preferred to vaccinate children in state clinics, however, 28.5 % (95% CI: 22.8–34.8) chose private clinics. Information about diseases that vaccines can prevent, vaccine safety, and side effects 47.2 % (95% CI: 40.6–53.8) of parents got from public pediatricians, 50.9 % (95% CI: 44.2–57.5) – from private pediatricians, and 10.3 % (95% CI: 6.8–15.0) – from complementary and alternative medicine practitioners. Over 80 % of Indians were informed about vaccination through mass media (83.6%; 95% CI: 78.1–87.9). Indian parents showed low awareness about vaccination, because 63.1 % (95% CI: 56.4–69.2) of parents wanted to know more about vaccination. Moreover, before vaccination 21.5 % (95% CI: 16.5–27.4) of them were not informed by a doctor about health benefits and possible risks for their children.

Conclusion. In the COVID-19 pandemic Indian parents showed good attitude towards vaccination and low awareness in vaccination questions.

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