The reasons of the childhood vaccination rejection in parents applied to primary health care centers

Introduction and Aim: Immunization; It is an important primary healthcare service to prevent babies, children or adults from getting infected by vaccinating them before the highest risk of infection. Factors causing vaccine rejection have been put forward in various community studies. Identifying the reasons for vaccine rejection is an important step in the fight against vaccine rejection, which is a growing community problem. In this study, parents who have 0-14 year old babies or children who applied to Family Health Centers in Yenişehir district were selected and their point of view towards vaccination rejection was determined to determine the possible causes of vaccination rejection and to determine the necessary steps. Material and Methods: As the universe of this cross-sectional study, parents with babies or children aged 0-14 who applied to the Family Health Centers in Yenişehir district of Diyarbakır between 15.04.2019 and 15.10.2019 were selected. The gender and age of the parents / children who applied to the outpatient clinic between the dates specified; On the other hand, socio-demographic characteristics of parents such as gender, age, employment status, education level, and knowledge, attitudes and thoughts of parents about vaccine and rejection of vaccine were investigated. Research data form application was chosen as the data collection tool for the research. The study consisted of data form, sociodemographic data, and questions about understanding the attitudes of knowledge of vaccine rejection. Results: 41.2% of the participants were men and 58.8% were women. It was seen that 51.5% of the participants' babies / children were boys and 48.5% were girls. When the education levels of the parents are examined; It was determined that 43.5% were university graduates, 16.9% were high school graduates, 30% primary and secondary school graduates, and illiterate were 9.6% of all parents who participated in the study. When we look at the working status of the participants; It was determined that 56.2% of them work in a workplace and 43.8% of them do not work. It was determined that 90.4% of the participants had their baby / child vaccinated regularly and 9.6% did not have the vaccinations regularly. While 86.9% of the participants knew about school-age vaccines, 90% thought that the vaccine was necessary. When the participants were asked about possible reasons for vaccine rejection; It has been determined that 34.2% of the harmful substances in the vaccine content, 23% of the vaccination is unnecessary, 6.5% of the vaccines are used for commercial purposes, 36.1% of the vaccines are linked to the fear of making illness in the future. No significant difference was observed between the sociocultural structures of families and having their children vaccinated regularly. Significant differences were observed between the education level and age groups of the reasons for the rejection of the vaccination of the families. A significant difference was observed in the vaccine content among the reasons for vaccination rejection, because of the harmful substances and the vaccine being commercial, and the education level and age groups of the parents. It has been determined that those who use the media as a source about vaccination increase in direct proportion with the level of education and age groups. 98% of the participants were found to be required to inform the family about the vaccine after the rejection of the vaccine, and 64% wanted to receive training on the vaccine. Conclusion: In our study, it was determined that the rejection of the vaccine reached serious dimensions and this rate would increase if no measures were taken. It was determined that the most important of these measures was education. For this, it is necessary to act in coordination with the Ministry of Health and organize trainings on vaccines, especially in family health centers providing primary health care services. These trainings are; It can be done by meeting with families face to face or in the form of planned meetings in company with audiovisual documents. In addition, effective use of the media by health regulators on vaccination and vaccination should be part of this training. In this way, parents will become conscious about the vaccine and the rate of rejection will decrease. KEYWORDS: Family medicine, vaccine rejection, vaccine, prevalance, education