Parental Preferences of Influenza Vaccination for Children in China: A National Survey with a Discrete Choice Experiment

Parental knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward vaccinating their children against influenza: a cross-sectional study from China

Aims

Influenza infection is a health burden in children, and the influenza vaccine is an important prevention strategy for flu illness. Parents play a crucial role in children's influenza vaccination. The study aimed to assess parental knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) related to influenza illness for their children and explore factors that may impact their decisions.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary hospital in Guangzhou from November 2022 to April 2023. Answers to KAP questions regarding influenza illness and vaccination were summed, with a total KAP score of 20. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models and linear regression models were conducted to explore the factors associated with influenza vaccination. The results were presented as odds ratios (ORs), β, and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results

Overall, 530 parents were respondents, of whom 162 (30.56%) had vaccinated their children during the past year. The mean KAP score (standard deviation) was 13.40 (3.57). Compared to parents who reported non-vaccinated for their children in the past year, the parents who reported an influenza vaccination have higher knowledge scores, attitude scores, practice scores, and total scores. Child body mass index, parental education level (under college), parental work (part-time), and more than two family members over 60 years old were negatively correlated with knowledge score. Child health condition and knowledge score were positively correlated with attitude score. Parental age was negatively associated with attitude score.

Conclusion

Though high awareness about influenza illness and vaccination for parents, the coverage rate of influenza vaccination in children was lower in Guangzhou. Implementing public health policies is necessary to spread knowledge about influenza illness and vaccination and to promote the practice of receiving the influenza vaccine in children. Education campaigns would help change the attitudes of parents toward vaccinating their children against the flu.

Heuristics in vaccination Decision-Making for newly developed Vaccines: Understanding the public's imitative behavior

This study aims to investigate the extent to which the public engages in imitative behavior in their vaccination decisions for newly developed vaccines in the Chinese context. Given the crucial role of newly developed vaccines in preventing and controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, a better understanding of how people make decisions about vaccination with new vaccines is important for overcoming vaccine hesitation and promoting widespread adoption of the vaccines. Our results indicate that the public's decision-making about the newly developed vaccine is influenced by a range of heuristics, including a privileged information heuristic, competence heuristic, and consensus heuristic. Specifically, individuals are more likely to imitate the vaccination behavior of those with privileged information, such as insiders, and those with perceived competence in the field, such as experts. Our findings also demonstrate the impact of majority influence, as the popularity of new vaccines leads to an increase in vaccination uptake through herd behavior. Our data highlights the importance of the first movers who are insiders with privileged information or experts with competence, as their behavior can significantly shape the vaccination decisions of others. Our study provides valuable insights into the complex interplay of heuristics and imitative behavior in vaccination decision-making for newly developed vaccines.

Investigating preferences of the covid-19 vaccine among individuals in Iran: Discrete choice experiment analysis

Background and Aims

This study aimed to estimate the preferences for COVID-19 vaccines among a sample of Iranian adults and to understand the sources of preference heterogeneity.

Methods

A web-based survey was conducted from April to July 2021; out of 1747 participants, 678 completed the survey. Seven key attributes were selected, namely effectiveness, risk of severe side effects, risk of mild side effects, number of doses, duration of protection, location of manufacture, and price. Additionally, conditional logit and mixed logit models were used to analyze the data.

Results

The results of this study indicate that vaccine effectiveness, protective duration, the risk of side effects, and price are the most important factors that influence vaccine preferences. Furthermore, we identified heterogeneity in preferences, indicating that not all individuals respond in the same way to vaccine attributes.

Conclusion

The majority of Iranians prefer to get the Covid-19 vaccine. Policymakers should consider these findings when implementing successful programs. This study contributes to the literature by estimating Iranian respondents' preferences for the Covid-19 vaccine and identifying the heterogeneity in their preferences for vaccine attributes. The findings may also inform future research and policies related to Covid-19 vaccination programs in Iran.

Cost-Effectiveness and Health Impacts of Different Influenza Vaccination Strategies for Children in China

INTRODUCTION

We aimed to evaluate the economic and health impacts of 3 influenza vaccines available in China, including trivalent inactivated vaccine, quadrivalent inactivated vaccine, and live attenuated influenza vaccine, for children aged 6 months to 18 years.

METHODS

Two decision-analytic models were developed to simulate 4 vaccination strategies. Outcomes included total costs from a societal perspective in 2021, quality-adjusted life-year loss, numbers of outpatient and inpatient cases, and deaths avoided using each strategy. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed to examine the uncertainty of model inputs.

RESULTS

For children aged 6 months to 3 years, trivalent inactivated vaccine saved $48 million and avoided a loss of 17,637 quality-adjusted life-years compared with no vaccination. For children aged 3-18 years, quadrivalent inactivated vaccine was cost-effective compared with trivalent inactivated vaccine, with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $32,948.5/quality-adjusted life-year (willingness-to-pay threshold=$37,653/quality-adjusted life-year), which was sensitive to the RR of vaccine effectiveness of quadrivalent inactivated vaccine versus of trivalent inactivated vaccine. When compared with quadrivalent inactivated vaccine, live attenuated influenza vaccine was $1.28 billion more costly but gained an additional 13,560 quality-adjusted life-years; its incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was $123,983.8/quality-adjusted life-year. Live attenuated influenza vaccine would be cost-effective if its vaccine effectiveness was >0.79. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis revealed that quadrivalent inactivated vaccine, trivalent inactivated vaccine, live attenuated influenza vaccine, and no vaccination were cost-effective in 55.94%, 33.09%, 10.97%, and 0% of 10,000 Monte Carlo simulations.

CONCLUSIONS

Trivalent inactivated vaccine was cost-effective compared with no vaccination in children aged 6 months to 18 years. Of the 3 vaccination strategies for children aged 3-18 months, quadrivalent inactivated vaccine appears to be the most cost-effective.

The Epidemiology of Influenza and the Associated Vaccines Development in China: A Review

Influenza prevention and control has been one of the biggest challenges encountered in the public health domain. The vaccination against influenza plays a pivotal role in the prevention of influenza, particularly for the elderly and small children. According to the epidemiology of influenza in China, the nation is under a heavy burden of this disease. Therefore, as a contribution to the prevention and control of influenza in China through the provision of relevant information, the present report discusses the production and batch issuance of the influenza vaccine, analysis of the vaccination status and vaccination rate of the influenza vaccine, and the development trend of the influenza vaccine in China.