PARENTAL DECISION-MAKING ON CHILDREN’S VACCINATION

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the main motives, mostly influencing the parental decision to vaccinate their children. The results of the survey show that  the majority of parents vaccinate their children with all childhood vaccines. The main motives to immunize the children were protection from infectious diseases and  creation of long-lasting immunity. The majority of respondents vaccinated their children with tick-borne encephalitis and  flu vaccines, one forth of respondents vaccinated their children with Meningococcal B vaccine, although these vaccines were non-reimbursed. The greatest demand for reimbursement was expressed for tick-borne encephalitis, flu and varicella vaccines. Less than a half of parents indicated adverse postvaccine reactions, which usually included fever, swelling, redness, pain in the vaccination area and irritability. More than a half of health care providers always inform the parents about side effects. The majority of parents always inform health care institution about side effects. The main parental sources of information about immunoprophylaxis were doctor, internet and television.