Childhood vaccination among Polish immigrants in Norway: a qualitative study.

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  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: BioMed Central Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 100968562 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1471-2458 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 14712458 NLM ISO Abbreviation: BMC Public Health Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Original Publication: London : BioMed Central, [2001-
    • Subject Terms:
      Emigrants and Immigrants*/statistics & numerical data ; Emigrants and Immigrants*/psychology ; Qualitative Research* ; Parents*/psychology ; Vaccination*/statistics & numerical data ; Vaccination*/psychology; Humans ; Norway ; Poland/ethnology ; Male ; Female ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Vaccination Hesitancy/statistics & numerical data ; Vaccination Hesitancy/psychology ; Child ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Interviews as Topic ; Child, Preschool ; Young Adult
    • Abstract:
      Background: Confidence in childhood vaccination is high in Norway and the Norwegian Childhood Immunization Programme (NCIP) achieves high overall coverage rates. However, lower coverage has been observed for some immigrant groups, including Polish immigrants who represent the largest immigrant group in Norway. Anti-vaccine sentiments and increased refusal of mandatory childhood vaccination has been on the rise in Poland, but it is unknown whether such attitudes also apply to Polish immigrants in Norway, as they experience a different vaccination policy and perhaps also different attitudes to vaccines. This qualitative study aims to explore attitudes towards childhood vaccination in Norway among Polish immigrants.
      Methods: We interviewed 15 Polish parents living in Norway in 2022. We recruited the participants by purposive sampling and analyzed the interviews by reflexive thematic analysis.
      Results: Three themes were identified: views of childhood vaccination, vaccine hesitancy, and differences in childhood vaccination between Poland and Norway. Overall, the participants favored childhood vaccination and viewed most of the vaccines included in the NCIP as safe and reliable. Human papilloma virus, meningococcal and pneumococcal vaccines were declined by some of the parents. Comparisons of childhood vaccination in Poland and Norway was evident in many of the interviews, especially among parents whose children had received vaccines in both countries. The participants were well acquainted with the NCIP, favored voluntary childhood vaccination, and the majority expressed a high level of trust in Norwegian health authorities.
      Conclusions: Polish immigrants to Norway generally expressed positive views about childhood vaccination. Non-vaccination was related to lack of knowledge and/or unfamiliarity with certain vaccines and not with anti-vaccine sentiments or conspiracy theories. The study highlights how parents' knowledge, in combination with norms and trends from both birth country and country of residence, influence parents' decision making about vaccination.
      (© 2024. The Author(s).)
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    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: Childhood vaccination; Immigrants; Immunization programs; Interviews; Norway; Poland; Qualitative research; Thematic analysis; Vaccine hesitancy, vaccine readiness
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20240725 Date Completed: 20240725 Latest Revision: 20240728
    • Publication Date:
      20240728
    • Accession Number:
      PMC11267864
    • Accession Number:
      10.1186/s12889-024-19426-5
    • Accession Number:
      39049037