Not for Granted: Pediatric Immunization Through Experts’ Lens

As the backbone of our modern healthcare systems, vaccines have helped protect eligible people around the world for centuries. But our ability to halt the potential harm caused by infectious disease is inherently tied to the immunization rates maintained by individual communities.

While the development and distribution of vaccines has made great strides, uptake and coverage rates across Europe still fall short of established targets. (NLM) These challenges have been long recognized and studied in underserved communities, but traditional public health models often overlook vaccination equity within established communities of mixed socioeconomic background.

As part of a multi-year collaboration, Pfizer and EIP set out to identify what’s driving variability in vaccination among members of these communities. By gathering perspectives from community health networks, this research aims to inform and help design effective public health strategies that enhance vaccination equity and coverage.

Findings revealed a significant problem lies within communities of mixed socioeconomic backgrounds where some individuals follow national immunization guidelines while others do not, even when seeing the same physicians. These individuals are described as “effectively underserved within their own environments.” 

Understanding the Complexity of Vaccine Decisions for Parents 

The argument parents do not vaccinate their children by conviction is oversimplified – it’s more complicated than that. While both vaccination refusal and adherence issues stem from parental decision-making, the underlying causes are diverse and complex. 

• Beliefs and Mistrust: Sociocultural factors (e.g., beliefs, language barriers) were most influential (67.94%) in vaccine refusal, with 37% stating mistrust of authorities and healthcare recommendations driving their skepticism. Inadequate knowledge was also reported as a top challenge (51.25%) in evaluating online information, making parents more susceptible to misinformation and mistrust as a result.  

• Economic and scheduling pressure: Missed appointments were perceived as the most detrimental challenge to vaccine adherence (70.83%). Failure to attend appointments is driven by a mix of factors including affordability taking precedence over health considerations (63.38%) and difficulties obtaining time off from work (35.29%).