Understanding Parents’ Perceptions of childhood vaccines in Saudi Arabia

Understanding Parents’ Perceptions of childhood vaccines in Saudi Arabia

Introduction

Health is an essential element for all human beings, and as such, it is something that cannot be underrated. People must take precautions meant to enhance their health in one way or the other. Childhood vaccines are one of the preventive measures recommended by ministries of health. Vaccines are an essential application of scientific research that is known to save many lives around the globe every year. To a large extent, vaccines reduce healthcare costs and hence their inclusion as an integral part of public health policy. Vaccines are medical interventions with which most individuals have personal experience and therefore act as a point of trust in the health system. Even though vaccines are associated with some anxiety among individuals, their uptake has typically been prevalent enough. As such, fatal illnesses such as smallpox have been eliminated. Also, many infectious diseases such as cholera, polio, tetanus, and diphtheria have considerably fad away in many nations. It is nevertheless noteworthy that the concept of vaccinations is not well received by all since some are against it for various reasons. Parental decisions concerning immunization are quite crucial when it comes to increasing the vaccination rate as well as parent compliance with the immunization schedule (Alagsam, & Alshehri, 2019). Besides other factors, parental knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs have a significant influence on the starting and continued administration of childhood vaccination.

This piece of paper will give a critical discussion of the attitudes and perceptions of childhood vaccines among parents in Saudi Arabia. The paper will consult different research studies and literature to come up with informed conclusions on the issue of discussion.

Background information

Alruwaili et al. (2018) assert that vaccination can be said to be the most cost-effective and influential health intervention that has dramatically reduced mortality, treatment expenditure, and hospitalization. However, there are various barriers to immunization among populations. They include misinformation about vaccines, vaccine-preventable diseases, adverse effects associated with vaccines, as well as disease development after administration of vaccines, among other factors. It is worth noting that in the recent past, developed nations have witnessed significant improvement in immunization coverage. Nevertheless, low rates of complete immunization still pose a challenge in some developing countries. It is, therefore, essential that the right information and knowledge are passed to parents, especially in developing countries, so that the percentage of vaccine acceptance goes up. This will go a long way in saving lives since almost a third of deaths that happen amongst children who are less than five years old can be averted by vaccines (Ramadan, Soliman, & El-kader, 2016).

Some of the general perceptions of parents concerning childhood vaccines include their importance for their children, their ability to reduce illness or death of their children, and the reduction of infectious diseases. The role of the immunizations in the health of the children and the fact that even healthy children need vaccination are also issues of concern. The many types of vaccines and the related side effects are also a crucial aspect of vaccines among parents (Saleh et al., 2018).

In order to have a better understanding of the issue of childhood vaccines and parents’ perceptions in Saudi Arabia, it is essential to have a comprehensive view of the same. According to Al-Zahrani (2013, p. 13), internationally, about 79% of populations strongly believe that vaccines are safe. On the other hand, 7% disagree about the safety of vaccines. Another notable trend is that 11% neither agree nor disagree, while 3% do not know or have no information about the vaccines and their safety.

It is also worth noting that high-income regions are characterized by less certainty when it comes to the concept of safety of vaccines. For instance, 73% of people in Northern Europe and 72% in Northern America agree that immunizations are safe. Nonetheless, the figure is lower in Western Europe (59%), while it stands at 40% in Eastern Europe. The statistics are different in low-income regions, with the proportions of individuals who somewhat or strongly agree that vaccines are safe is much higher, standing at least 80% or even higher. For example, 92% of people in Eastern Africa, and 95% in South Asia believe that vaccines are safe. France has the highest percentage of people in the world who disagree that vaccines are safe, with one in three individuals disagreeing.

Although there are relatively high levels of vaccine skepticism in some nations, 92% of parents globally admit that their children have received some vaccines intending to prevent them from suffering from childhood illnesses (Alruwaili et al., 2018, p.5180). Approximately 6% of the parents admitted that their children did not receive some vaccines, while 2% did not have any information. A significant number of parents who did not take their children for vaccination were from Southern Africa and Southeast Asia and East Asia (Alruwaili et al., 2018, p.5180).

Parents’ Perceptions of childhood vaccines in Saudi Arabia

According to Alharbi and Alfahl (2017), ethical requirements concerning health services provision necessitate that there is informed consent from consumers, as a way of proving of rights of the patients. Legally, parents have the power to decide for their children or minors when it comes to matters of acceptance or even rejection of health services, including vaccines or immunizations. Various factors contribute to a parent’s view or attitude towards immunization services. For instance, lack of proper and adequate information on the vaccines and how important they are to the children leads to controversies and hence rejection and resistance of childhood vaccine services in different parts of the world and Saudi Arabia in particular. Globally, vaccines are considered as the most cost-effective medical intervention aimed at preventing diseases and deaths (Saleh et al., 2017).

Immunization has significantly reduced the burden of illnesses, especially infectious diseases. This is more so because it averts illnesses, disabilities as well as deaths that could be as a result of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, polio, pneumonia, diphtheria, rubella, and tetanus and rotavirus diarrhea, among others. Hasanain and Jan (2002, p. 1088) argue that immunizations are among the greatest inventions of the 20th century. Nonetheless, even with success associated with it, there have been a high number of skeptics all around the globe, concerning its efficacy and safety. Some parents deliberately refuse to take their children for their routine vaccinations.

Diekema (2005, p. 1429) asserts that parents in Saudi Arabia are significantly aware of the advantages linked with immunization as well as the risks of its lack. They also have access to local information sources concerning child immunization services and activities. Confidence in, as well as acceptance of childhood vaccines, awareness of health benefits related to the vaccines, and ease of access to immunizations among parents in Saudi Arabia, is quite good. Nonetheless, it is also clear that the rate of resistance or refusal is somehow directly correlated to the knowledge of parents concerning vaccines and if they are counseled appropriately by their physicians. The level of education of the parents in Saudi Arabia is also an issue of concern when it comes to attitudes and perceptions of childhood vaccines. The level of education has a positive impact when it comes to readiness to accept new and existing vaccines. In many regions, parents who have high trust in nurses and doctors seem to be more likely to believe that vaccines are safe and hence consider them for their children. For this reason, there is a need for future campaigns about vaccines to target parents of lower levels of education to make them understand everything about vaccines. There is also a need for pediatricians to be aware of the significance of appropriate counseling techniques. They should be provided with adequate tools to do so (Benin et al., 2006). Public confidence is a critical factor when it comes to not only increasing but also maintaining high rates of vaccination among populations.

A research carried out by Alshammari, Subaiea, Hussain, Moin, and Yusuff (2018) indicates that the requirement of proof of childhood vaccination as a qualification for school admission seems to be a strong contributing factor when it comes to immunization rates in Saudi Arabia. Nevertheless, the constraint may aggravate parental vaccine aversion, as well as noncompliance. The study was carried out over one year (between February 2016 and February 2017). It was in the form of a cross-sectional interview of about 467 parents whose children were below the age of five years, in the Hail area of Saudi Arabia. A pre-tested 18-item questionnaire was used to gather vaccination-related information from the parents. Hail is deemed a good population as it is a cosmopolitan city of approximately 600,000 people, with varied socio-economic backgrounds. The questionnaire had three sections to collect specific data to help in the understanding of parents’ perception of childhood vaccines in Saudi Arabia. The first section entailed the demographics of the participants. The second section was about the parents’ awareness of the benefits of vaccines. The third section was all about the practices of the parents concerning the immunization of their parents.

According to the study, the majority of the respondents (78.9%) were aware of childhood vaccination. Those who religiously observed the vaccinations mandated for children up to five years accounted for 86.2%, while those who in one way or the other encouraged other parents to heed to vaccinations were 89.9%. The respondents who were in a position to easily access vaccines amounted to 90.5%. 60% -90% of the participants had sufficient knowledge about the health benefits associated with childhood vaccination. There was also the other side of the coin, whereby some respondents were not convinced about the safety of immunization. About 5.2% of the respondents considered the vaccination to be harmful. It is also worth noting that all the participants admitted that childhood vaccination is not a practice that is prohibited by Islam religion as most people assume (Alshammari, Subaiea, Hussain, Moin, and Yusuff, 2018. p.26). Overall, the above statistics indicate a high level of acceptance of and confidence in childhood vaccination among Saudi Arabian parents.

A research carried out by Alruwaili et al. (2018) gives a considerable amount of information with respect to attitudes and perceptions of childhood vaccines in Saudi Arabia. It entailed an observational, cross-sectional study among 614 participants, with the majority of them being mothers (86%). In Jeddah City, the survey study was representative enough as it included Saudi parents from different regions. Of all the participants, 77.9% agreed to the fact that vaccination usually is not harmful to children, while 40.2% stated that routine immunization safeguards children against infectious diseases along with their complications. They, therefore, agreed on the necessity of vaccinating children during vaccination campaigns such as the case of polio. Most parents (79.7%) asserted that immunization could prevent infectious illness, while 76% agreed that the vaccines reduce mortality rates. On the other hand, 87.2 % considered vaccines to play a decisive role in maintaining child health, while 89% of the parents were aware that some vaccines are linked to fever and pain. 96.3% of the participants believed that even healthy children need vaccination, while 55.5% stated that immunization is not supposed to bring about skin rashes and convulsions (Alruwaili et al., 2018, p. 5179).

A similar study was conducted in Riyadh, including parents of 390 children. The result indicated that the majority (82.6%) of the parents acknowledged that immunization prevents diseases, while 87.4% were aware that there are various types of vaccines. On the other hand, 89.2% of the participants believed that vaccination improves immunity, while 85.9% argued that healthy children also require vaccination (ALAmri, Horaib, & Alanazi, 2018, p.252).

All the studies point out in the same direction that there is a relatively high rate of knowledge and positive perception among Saudi Arabian parents when it comes to the issue of childhood vaccines. Parents seem to have positive attitudes and knowledge on most aspects associated with childhood vaccination. Nevertheless, this is not to say that there no gaps when it comes to both attitudes and knowledge among the parents. Although most parents exhibit an excellent practice towards immunization, there is a need for proper educational interventions to make the situation better and increase the rate of vaccinations among children.

High parental acceptance of childhood vaccines can be attributed to various factors. One of them is the fact that most of the parents were knowledgeable of the protective role played by vaccinations compared to the potentially fatal childhood diseases. There is also the aspect of many of the parents not encountering challenges when it comes to accessing childhood vaccination services. Most of the participants also had the advantage of having a formal education and were employed with a regular monthly income. For example, a high education level seems to be strongly associated with better health literacy. The individuals are, therefore, in a position to understand information related to vaccines and be at par with counseling and education offered by health professionals at institutional and interpersonal levels. Public health education campaigns also make sense to them (Glatman-Freedman & Nichols, 2012, p.297). A combination of these positive factors is likely to enhance acceptance, informed parental decision making, as well as compliance to immunizations as a way of fighting childhood infectious illnesses.

There is a dire need for strategies or ways of enhancing acceptance of immunization among parents in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the world. For instance, primary health care providers may offer sufficient counseling as well as community-based campaigns that aim at educating families about the importance and safety of vaccination. Interventions should be devised in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Islamic world where religious clergy usually spread rumors that vaccination programs are converting attempts to cause harm, an aspect that threatens vaccine uptake (Wroe, Turner, & Salkovskis, 2004).

There is a need to equip parents in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the world with proper knowledge concerning vaccination to enhance their awareness. For this reason, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, as well as other health care practitioners, ought to offer parents the right information regarding the benefits and risks of childhood vaccines. The most significant factor influencing parental practice is communication between immunization providers or sources of information and the parents (Jan, Hasanain, & Al-Dabbagh, 2000). Enhancing communication between the two will go a long way in improving parents’ perceptions of the risks and benefits associated with vaccines.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it is clear that the issue of vaccines is of concern in different nations across the globe. Some countries have a higher level of knowledge and acceptance of childhood vaccines compared to others. In Saudi Arabia, it is apparent that a majority of parents have adequate knowledge on childhood vaccines, with most of them taking their children for immunization and even encouraging other parents to do the same. Nonetheless, some do not agree with the immunization schedules as they doubt their safety. Others do not know about the vaccines and their impact. Various factors influence parents’ perceptions and attitudes towards childhood vaccines. For instance, having adequate information about the vaccines, including their safety and side effects, enhance the rate of their acceptance. Education level is also a factor that has some impact on the rate at which parents give vaccines to their children. Those who are educated are highly likely to accept the vaccines compared to the uneducated. This is more so since they are in a position to understand their importance compared to the adverse effects that their children could suffer if they did not get the immunizations. Trust of nurses and doctors is also an aspect that significantly enhances the parent’s acceptance of childhood vaccines. Because of the populations that do not agree on childhood vaccines, there is a need for educative campaigns directed to inform the parents of the benefits associated with the vaccines. More emphasis should be placed on the less educated and those in the remote areas.

References

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