Evaluation of the opinions, attitudes and behaviors of the physicians workingin family medicine clinics in Ankara province about anti-vaccination

Objective: Vaccine applications are one of the most effective methods for health protection and promotion. Vaccination is an effective, safe and inexpensive method that prevents injuries and deaths related to infectious diseases. Besides the increase in vaccination rates in the world and Turkey, especially in recent years, it is seen that anti-vaccination and vaccination concerns have started to increase. Family medicine is the department that plays a key role in both implementation and follow-up of vaccination programs in our country, including children and adults. The aim of this study is to evaluate the opinions, attitudes and behaviors of the assistant doctors who are on their specialization training in family medicine clinics in our country, where the anti-vaccination / rejection increases rapidly. Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional study was carried out between 15.06.2019 and 15.11.2019. The universe of the study was 360 physicians working in Family Medicine Clinics in Ankara Province. A questionnaire form that questions the socio-demographic-professional characteristics and opinions, attitudes and behaviors about vaccination-anti vaccination was applied to the participants as a data collection tool. Data were analyzed with SPSS v22 program and p <0.05 value was accepted as statistical significance. Results: 311 Family Medicine assistants were included in the study. The rate of participants indicating that they had previously encountered anti-vaccination was 59.5% (n=185). 85.4% (n=158) of these participants stated that they tried to persuade them to get vaccinated by giving information about vaccine and vaccination, while 12.4% (n=23) did not undertake that they respected the opinion of the person who was anti-vaccine. 94.9% (n=295) of the participants stated that they were against the idea of vaccination rejection and 82% (n=255) were against the idea of vaccine hesitation. Statements were that 90.7% (n=282) of anti-vaccination should be reported to legal authorities, 71.1% (n=221) of anti-vaccination should be punished, 19.9% (n=62) are undecided on this matter. It was found that those who are 40 years and older, married, with children involved in part-time residency training, with a residency year of 3 years or more, experienced in primary care, have faced more cases of anti- vaccination compared to the others. The majority of the participants stated that they are against vaccine rejection and hesitation, and that there should be a penalty for anti-vaccination. In this sense, it was determined that the socio-demographic and professional characteristics of the participants did not make any difference (p>0.05). It was determined that physcians who are involved in part time residency training and 4 years or more experienced in primary care received more trainingaboutanti-vaccination compared to the others. In addition, it was determined that the majority of the residents who were in their first year in specialty education did not receive this training. Those who do not have experience in primary care stated that the training they received was sufficient compared to others (p=0.044). Conclusion: All of the physicians- except one- participating in the study stated that they are against vaccine rejection. However, the proportion of the participants who supported the vaccine hesitation or were undecisive in this regard was found to be considerable. It has been determined that the most common reason for hesitation about vaccination is the vaccine side effects. It has been observed that family medicine residents have insufficient training about vaccines and anti-vaccination. First of all, knowledge deficiencies of physicians should be eliminated. The physicians should be consulted privately with those who hesitate to vaccinate and the reasons for this situation should be revealed. In addition, training should be given to family physicians working in primary care and how to deal with anti-vaccination in Family Medicine Specialization training. Keywords: Anti-vaccine, vaccine rejection, vaccine hesitation, family medicine