Parental attitude and beliefs towards child vaccination: identifying vaccine hesitant groups in a family health center, Erbil city, Iraq

Objectives: The current study was conducted to determine parental hesitancy toward vaccination inside Erbil city, Iraq, and to find associations between the parents' position towards vaccination and the outcome of immunization. Methods: A descriptive study was done during the period from 1st of January 2014 till 1st of July 2015. The data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire. It included two sections: The first section related to the demographic characteristics of clients. The Parent Attitudes Childhood Vaccines (PACV) questionnaire, was used as the second part to detect parents who have concerns about vaccination. Results: Parental position in respect to immunization of their child revealed that 65.3% were unquestioning acceptors, 20.6% were cautious acceptors, 9.9% were hesitant, 3.5% were late or selective vaccinator and only 0.7% were refusal. Immunization behaviors of parents among different groups showed that, 20.9% postponed their child's vaccination for causes other than sickness or sensitivity, while 73% were provided with immunization on time. More than two thirds (65.9%) were completely sure that, it is a good idea to follow the schedule of immunization for their child and only 26.6% were not sure. Conclusion: The current study showed parents had some positive aspects related to vaccination and defects in some domains were recognized. Identifying these parents is important in order to implement the necessary measures to maintain and improve the vaccines uptake.