Evaluation of vaccine hesitancy in parents with children aged 0-14 admitted to family medicine polyclinic

Vaccine hesitations and refusals have been increasing rapidly in recent years and have become detrimental to public health. Minor measles outbreaks occurred in Europe in 2016-2017 and it was determined that 87% of measles patients were those who refused the vaccine. WHO has conducted studies on vaccine hesitancy and stated that one of the 10 factors that may threaten global health in 2019 is "vaccine hesitancy". While the number of families who do not want to have their children vaccinated in our country was 183 in 2011, it increased to 980 in 2013, 5.400 in 2015, and 12.000 in 2016. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the vaccination hesitancy of parents with children aged 0-14 years who admitted to Eskişehir Osmangazi University Family Medicine Outpatient Clinic by using the World Health Organization Vaccine Hesitancy Scale adapted to Turkish and to determine the related factors. A total of 375 parents, 259 (69.1%) female and 116 (30.9%) male, participated in the study. No significant relationship was found between parents' age, gender, education level, number of children, income status, whether the house they live in belongs to themselves, the presence of any vaccine that their child has not had, status of side effects after vaccination in the child and the Turkish World Health Organization Vaccine Hesitancy Scale scores. A significant relationship was found between the place where the parents stayed for the longest time in their lives, the sources they were affected by in their vaccination decisions, their own vaccination status, having a friend who did not have their child vaccinated, and the Turkish World Health Organization Vaccine Hesitancy Scale scores. The data obtained as a result of our study will provide guidance on the factors related to vaccination hesitations in parents and the measures that can be taken to prevent these hesitations.