A public-professional web-bridge for vaccines and vaccination: user concerns about vaccine safety.
Vacunas.org (http://www.vacunas.org), a website founded by the Spanish Association of Vaccinology offers a personalized service called Ask the Expert, which answers any questions posed by the public or health professionals about vaccines and vaccination. The aim of this study was to analyze the factors associated with questions on vaccination safety and determine the characteristics of questioners and the type of question asked during the period 2008-2010. A total of 1341 questions were finally included in the analysis. Of those, 30% were related to vaccine safety. Questions about pregnant women had 5.01 higher odds of asking about safety (95% CI 2.82-8.93) than people not belonging to any risk group. Older questioners (>50 years) were less likely to ask about vaccine safety compared to younger questioners (OR: 0.44, 95% CI 0.25-0.76). Questions made after vaccination or related to influenza (including H1N1) or travel vaccines were also associated with a higher likelihood of asking about vaccine safety. These results identify risk groups (pregnant women), population groups (older people) and some vaccines (travel and influenza vaccines, including H1N1) where greater efforts to provide improved, more-tailored vaccine information in general and on the Internet are required.
Preventative Medicine and Epidemiology Unit, Hospital Clínic, c/Villarroel 174, 08036 Barcelona, Spain. basteiro@clinic.ub.es
Alberto L
AL
García-Basteiro
María-José
MJ
Alvarez-Pasquín
Guillermo
G
Mena
Anna
A
Llupià
Marta
M
Aldea
Victor-Guillermo
VG
Sequera
Sergi
S
Sanz
Jose
J
Tuells
José-Antonio
JA
Navarro-Alonso
Javier
J
de Arísteguí
José-María
JM
Bayas
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D058015:Health Communication / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D013030:Spain; D014611:Vaccination / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014612:Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects*; D055815:Young Adult
D014612:Vaccines