178 Influenza a H1N1V Vaccination in Pediatrics: Reasons for Non Vaccination

Introduction: The immunization campaign for influenza H1N1v began in October 2009. Alarmist warnings were spread amongst the population, creating insecurity and doubt. In Portugal, the vaccination rate was lower than in other European countries. Objective: To evaluate the reasons for non-vaccination influenza H1N1v in a portuguese pediatric population. Methods: Cross sectional aleatorized descriptive study. A survey was applied to the parents from January to March 2010. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS®v17.0. Results: We analyzed 495 surveys; 403 (81.4%) children were not vaccinated. They showed reduced rates of chronic diseases as asthma (5.7%vs17.4%, p< 0.001) or diabetes (1%vs3.3%, p=0.096). No children with overweight were vaccinated. Parent's education degree (basic education 22.8%vs7.6%) and mother's vaccination (3.2%vs17.4%, p< 0.001) was lower in these group. “Fear of the vaccine” (24.2%), “still not well tested” (26.7%) and “absence of a firm and convincing advice of medical assistants” (26.4%) were factors for non-vaccination. Most (62.3%) of these parents reported the media as the primary source of information. 31.5% of parents think it contains a lived virus, 51.9% believe that vaccine caused deaths and 38.3% feared more complications than other vaccines. Despite the non-vaccination rate 68% think virus is more dangerous than the vaccine. Conclusions: A new vaccine tends to be received with fear and media should be an important ally of health organizations. The decision to vaccinate is influenced by the presence of chronic disease, parent's academic degree and their own need for vaccination. The results highlight the need to modify strategies for information regarding health, disease and vaccination.