title: Public perspectives on consent for the linkage of data to evaluate vaccine safety.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We sought community opinion on consent alternatives when linking childhood immunisation and hospital attendance records for the purpose of vaccine safety surveillance.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) of a sample of rural and metropolitan residents of South Australia in 2011.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 2002 households interviewed (response rate 55.6%), 96.4% supported data linkage for postmarketing surveillance of vaccines; very few were completely opposed (1.5%) or undecided (2.2%). The majority (75.3%) trusted the privacy protections used in data linkage and most wished to have minimal or no direct involvement, preferring either opt-out consent (40.4%) or no consent (30.6%). A quarter of respondents (24.6%) favoured opt-in consent, but their preferences were divergent; half requested consent be sought prior to every use (11.4%) while the remainder preferred to give broad consent just once (3.4%) or renewed at periodic intervals (9.8%). Over half of the respondents gave higher priority to rapid vaccine safety surveillance (56.5%) rather than first seeking parental consent (26.6%) and one in seven was undecided (14.5%). Although 91.6% of respondents believed childhood vaccines are safe, over half (53.1%) were very or somewhat concerned that a vaccine could cause a serious reaction. Nevertheless, 92.4% of the parents in the sample (556/601) reported every child in their care as being fully immunised according to the National Immunisation Program schedule. Only 3.7% of parents (22/601) reported one or more children as under immunised, and 3.9% (23/601) reported that none of their children were immunised.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This survey demonstrates that data linkage for vaccine safety surveillance has substantial community support and that a system utilising opt-out consent or no consent was preferred to one using opt-in consent. These findings should inform public health policy and practice; data linkage should be established where feasible to address limitations in passive surveillance systems.
authors.affiliation: Data Management & Analysis Centre, Discipline of Public Health, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia. Jesia.Berry@adelaide.edu.au
authors.forename: Jesia G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Berry
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Gold
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.forename: Katherine M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Duszynski
authors.forename: Annette J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Braunack-Mayer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016907:Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011639:Public Opinion; D013021:South Australia; D014611:Vaccination / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014612:Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014612:Vaccines