Why Parents Are So Important in Boosting Vaccination Rates
The rate of vaccination, which has been proven to prevent deadly childhood diseases, has plateaued in developing countries, and officials are looking for new strategies to get more children vaccinated.
The issue is especially prominent in Asia and Africa, where the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 2.5 million people die each year due to diseases that could be prevented by vaccines. Most of those who die are children younger than 5 years old. Medical professionals have a hard time reaching children who aren’t vaccinated, and WHO understands that connecting with their parents is the first step to solve the problem.
Officials attribute the breakdown between medical professionals and parents to several issues. One is logistics, as parents may not have the means to get their children to a clinic when it is open. Parents may not know about the value of vaccines, or health care workers may fail to convince them that vaccines are worthwhile. If healthcare workers cannot foster good relationships with people in the community, parents also may be less inclined to bring their children to clinics for vaccinations.
When children aren’t vaccinated, problems multiply. Unvaccinated children don’t have the same level of immunity to disease as vaccinated children do resulting in more illness. A common outcome is that these sick children often miss school. Without a solid education, children may be less qualified later in life for jobs and opportunities that could help them get out of poverty. And of course, a child who is not vaccinated has a higher risk of contracting a disease that could cause death or permanent disability.
Educating parents
WHO recently has debated whether it should invest in educating parents about vaccination in hopes of improving their attitudes toward immunization. While medical professionals believe that vaccine advocacy and education can make parents more willing to vaccinate their children, many vaccine programs don’t incorporate these approaches. Medical workers also have found that the best methods for reaching parents vary widely according to country, region, and culture, rendering a singular approach as ineffective across all borders.
While many parents in developing countries accept vaccination, even when they don’t fully understand it, significant problems can arise when parents push back based on misinformation. Their motivation almost always is to keep their children from harm. For example, in 2003, Nigerian political and religious leaders declared that certain vaccines caused AIDS and sterility. The leaders later admitted that they were wrong and had spread the misinformation because they viewed the vaccine campaign as a form of Western imperialism and interference. In India, some groups of Muslims and Hindus believe that vaccines are secretly a cover for a sinister family planning program primarily aimed at Muslims. Cultures that are more accepting of vaccines often have more positive attitudes about health and trust health care workers more.
To best reach parents, medical workers must first understand the prevailing attitudes and culture of the community in which they work. In relation to the importance of vaccination, parents in developing countries generally don’t have proportional knowledge of the value of vaccines. WHO believes that for parents to fully understand how vital vaccines are to children’s health, they must first be allowed to freely express how they feel about vaccination.
Vaccinating on time
While parents in the United States debate whether vaccines are administered too close together, parents in developing countries often are regularly reminded of the impact of childhood diseases such as measles and polio. Disease outbreaks can kill thousands of children, and parents who witness the effects of disease in their communities can be eager to vaccinate. The problem instead becomes making sure that parents get their children to a health clinic at the right time for effective vaccination.
Getting a vaccination schedule right can be tricky in developing countries, where childhood diseases are more prevalent and children are at more risk of exposure to them. People in rural communities may also have difficulty traveling longer distances to a clinic. Typically, an infant inherits the mother’s immunity, which lasts about nine months after birth. The vaccine won’t work as well if it’s given before the immunity wears off, but if parents wait too long to vaccinate their children they may expose them to dangerous diseases.
Another issue comes with vaccines needed for older children or preteens to prevent diseases such as HPV, given to children starting at age 9, and a new malaria vaccine that is most effective when given to children between the ages of 15 months and 2 years. Parents in developing countries typically understand that babies need medical checkups soon after they are born, but health workers often don’t have a program for making sure older children get vaccinated.
Combatting the anti-vaccine campaign
In recent years, a vocal group of anti-vaccine parents have found an audience in some Western countries. They have propagated a significant amount of misinformation online, which is available to anyone in the world. When children get sick following a vaccine — which can be a normal response to immunization — communities in developing countries may see that as affirmation of the Western anti-vaccination views they’ve heard about.
Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of the Global Vaccine Alliance (GAVI), recently told National Public Radio that he worries that misinformation about vaccines may reach people in developing countries.
“How we keep that spread from occurring — that spread of fear of vaccines — is something that does keep me up at night,” he said.
