88% of mothers think that schools can facilitate vaccination – 04/19/2023 – Health

A survey carried out by Instituto Locomotiva at the request of Pfizer points out that 88% of mothers believe that schools could facilitate the vaccination of children and adolescents both by providing information and applying the doses themselves.

In addition, 91% would probably approve of administering doses in teaching units.

“Brazilian mothers are asking for help to vaccinate their children. Alone, they are not coping with the challenge of keeping their children vaccinated respecting the immunization schedule”, summarized the director of the Locomotiva Institute, Renato Meirelles, during the research dissemination event, this Wednesday morning (19), in São Paulo.

The study “School: an ally of childhood vaccination”, which is based on the responses of 2,000 women with children aged up to 15 interviewed in different regions of the country, and shows that 66% of mothers have already delayed vaccinating their children or stopped immunizing them for not remembering the date of vaccination (50%), lack of time (38%), living far from the health center (35%) or having lost their vaccination card (25%).

The interviewees also indicated other reasons that interfere with vaccination: lack of knowledge about the vaccination schedule (45%), hours of operation of health agencies (39%) and difficulty in accessing health centers (39%).

For them, the school could help remind them of the vaccination schedule and it would be practical if their children were vaccinated in the teaching units, as this would avoid travel and expenses.

Among the mothers consulted, 85% stated that, if there were vaccinations in schools, child vaccination coverage could be greater and, for 82%, if schools helped in controlling vaccination dates, more children would have their card up to date.

They also indicated that they would be safe with vaccination at school if they knew it would be carried out by qualified health professionals (81%), that the measure would avoid delays in their children’s vaccines (77%) and, for 76%, “the school it is the ideal place to have the possibility of childhood vaccination”.

According to the survey, immunization in schools would also help a portion of women who need to miss a day of work to take their children to the posts.

In the North region, 51% of mothers stated that they had already missed work to be able to immunize their children, a rate above the national average of 45%. Also in these states, 66% of women reported having difficulties managing their vaccination card.

“What makes someone not get vaccinated in Pará, Bahia, is not the same observed in Jardins or in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul”, recalled pediatrician Renato Kfouri, president of the immunology department of the SBP (Brazilian Society of Pediatrics). .

Kfouri highlighted that, while for the lower classes, issues of access and convenience interfere with the vaccination rate, in the higher classes, hesitation is generally related to a lack of perception of risk of the disease and even confidence in immunizers.

“For the first time, we see vaccinated parents who do not want to vaccinate their children”, commented the doctor.

The low perception of risk of diseases was pointed out by 9% of the mothers as a reason that interferes with childhood vaccination, the same index of the lack of professionals to apply the doses. Next, there is a lack of a document that prevents vaccination (10%) and a lack of confidence in vaccines (17%).

On Tuesday (18), the AMB (Brazilian Medical Association) and the Ministry of Health held a meeting to align joint actions aimed at raising awareness of the population about the importance of getting vaccinated and the resumption of high vaccination rates.