Parent attitudes about school-located influenza vaccination clinics.
The use of alternative venues beyond physician offices may help to increase rates of population influenza vaccination. Schools provide a logical setting for reaching children, but most school-located vaccination (SLV) efforts to date have been limited to local areas. The potential reach and acceptability of SLV at the national level is unknown in the United States. To address this gap, we conducted a nationally representative online survey of 1088 parents of school-aged children. We estimate rates of, and factors associated with, future hypothetical parental consent for children to participate in SLV for influenza. Based on logistic regression analysis, we estimate that 51% of parents would be willing to consent to SLV for influenza. Among those who would consent, SLV was reported as more convenient than the regular location (42.1% vs. 19.9%, P<0.001). However the regular location was preferred over SLV for the child's well-being in case of side effects (46.4% vs. 20.9%, P<0.001) and proper administration of the vaccine (31.0% vs. 21.0%, P<0.001). Parents with college degrees and whose child received the 2009-2010 seasonal or 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccination were more likely to consent, as were parents of uninsured children. Several measures of concern about vaccine safety were negatively associated with consent for SLV. Of those not against SLV, schools were preferred as more convenient to the regular location by college graduates, those whose child received the 2009-2010 seasonal or 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccination, and those with greater travel and clinic time. With an estimated one-half of U.S. parents willing to consent to SLV, this study shows the potential to use schools for large-scale influenza vaccination programs in the U.S.
Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA. Electronic address: dereksbrown@wustl.edu.
Derek S
DS
Brown
Public Health Economics Program, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA.
Sarah E
SE
Arnold
National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Garrett
G
Asay
National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Suchita A
SA
Lorick
National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Bo-Hyun
BH
Cho
Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Ricardo
R
Basurto-Davila
National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Mark L
ML
Messonnier
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D017589:Immunization Programs; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D033282:Parental Consent / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D012572:School Health Services
D007252:Influenza Vaccines
Consent; Immunization; Influenza; Parents; Schools; Vaccination