The State of Vaccine Confidence in Poland: A 2019 Nationwide Cross-Sectional Survey

Filip M. Furman, Wojciech Stefan Zgliczyński, Mateusz Jankowski, Tomasz Baran, Łukasz Szumowski and Jarosław Pinkas
Additional contact information
Filip M. Furman: Home Hospice “Socrates”, Armii Krajowej 2/4, 05-800 Pruszków, Poland
Wojciech Stefan Zgliczyński: School of Public Health, Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education, Kleczewska 61/63, 01-826 Warsaw, Poland
Mateusz Jankowski: School of Public Health, Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education, Kleczewska 61/63, 01-826 Warsaw, Poland
Tomasz Baran: Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Stawki 5/7, 00-183 Warsaw, Poland
Łukasz Szumowski: Department of Cardiac Arrhythmia, National Institute of Cardiology, Alpejska 42, 04-628 Warsaw, Poland
Jarosław Pinkas: School of Public Health, Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education, Kleczewska 61/63, 01-826 Warsaw, Poland

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 12, 1-14

Abstract: Vaccination is considered as one of the most successful and cost-effective public health interventions. This study aimed to assess (1) the attitudes and behaviors towards mandatory childhood vaccination, with particular emphasis on socio-economic factors determining the vaccine confidence among adults in Poland as well as to (2) identify the potential impact of anti-vaccination movement on vaccination coverage among children and adolescents aged ?19 years. This cross-sectional study was carried in 2019 on a nationwide, representative sample of 1079 individuals aged 18 and over in Poland (53.7% females). Most of the respondents (74.6%) agreed or strongly agreed that mandatory vaccinations are safe, and only 8% of participants neglected the safety of vaccines. The results of multivariate analysis showed that the lowest level of vaccine confidence was observed among participants aged 25–34 years (aOR: 0.48, 95%CI: 0.29–0.80; p = 0.01). There was a positive correlation ( r = 0.35; p < 0.001) between trust in doctors and vaccine confidence. Moreover, there was a positive correlation between trust in scientific knowledge and vaccine confidence ( r = 0.19; p < 0.001). Also, a negative correlation ( r = ?0.13; p < 0.001) between trust in horoscopes and vaccine confidence was observed. Most of the parents declared (97.7%), that their children were vaccinated following the national immunization programme. However, 8.5% of parents who currently vaccinated their children declared that they would stop vaccinating children when vaccination obligation will be abolished. This study demonstrates relatively high confidence in mandatory vaccination among adults in Poland. While most of society trusts in vaccine safety, young adults are the least trustful of vaccinations.

Keywords: vaccination; vaccines; trust; vaccine hesitancy; vaccine trust; Poland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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