Ministry of Health Research: About one-third of parents who do not vaccinate their children against flu don't believe the disease is dangerous • Increasing awareness helps raise vaccine rate

• Waiting in line at a health fund // Photo: Joshua Yosef

Reports of influenza deaths have run tens of thousands of vaccines, and the number of vaccines yesterday and yesterday was four times higher than normal days. Why is the public flocking to the masses only after the reports of deaths? A new study conducted by the Ministry of Health asked them to consider what their parents' considerations were about whether or not to vaccinate their children against influenza.

It was found that the main reason for the non-vaccination of children was the perception that influenza is not a dangerous disease, so no need to be vaccinated (28% of Jewish parents and 20% of Arab parents). The second reason was that the vaccine was ineffective (22% of Jewish parents and 17% of Arab parents). The third reason was the fear of vaccine side effects (22% of Jewish parents and 16% of Arab parents).

It also emerged that a significant number of parents who had not vaccinated their children against influenza claimed that this was due to the vaccine's efforts ("No time to visit a health fund", "I am lazy to take the child for vaccination," "The child is sick" and the like). Overall, 29.7% of parents (27.5% of Jews and 37.5% of Arabs) who did not vaccinate their children indicated this reason. Less than 5% of parents list reasons such as vaccine resistance in general, or flu vaccine resistance. A few percent of parents claimed that the vaccines were running out and therefore did not vaccinate their children.

Personal summons

The study was conducted among 1,040 children aged one to 18 and is published in the scientific journal of the National Institute of Health Policy Research. The researchers also sought to examine the reasons why parents choose to vaccinate their children against influenza virus. According to the findings, the most frequently reported cause among Jewish and Arab parents was "winter disease prevention or aggravation" (65% of Jewish parents and 49% of Arab parents). The second reason was "information received from medical officials" (21% of Jewish parents and 21% of Arab parents). Other reasons were: summons for influenza vaccine by HMO (22% of Arab parents vs 5% of Jewish parents); Receiving information about school vaccination (11% of Arab parents versus 4% of Jewish parents) and "preventing the transmission of disease to siblings and other family members" (15% of Jewish parents vs. 3% of Arab parents).

Researchers Prof. Tami Shochat and Dr. Aharona Friedman of the Ministry of Health, who conducted the study, noted that "investing more efforts can raise children's vaccination rates against influenza virus. It is recommended to raise awareness among the public about the effectiveness of the vaccine and its high safety profile, as well as send messages, personal summonses and reminders to parents to encourage them to come with their children to perform the vaccine. The inclusion of these actions within the school immunization program can increase its effectiveness. "