| Abstract [eng] |
Aim of the study. To evaluate the knowledge of pregnant women and those who have recently given birth about vaccination against seasonal influenza, COVID-19 infection and pertussis during pregnancy, and clarify the reasons for vaccine hesitancy and the measures that could encourage a change in this attitude. Material and methods. A prospective cohort study was conducted, during which an original, anonymous, cross-sectional online survey was used. The study involved 411 women. 111 participants were pregnant during the survey and 300 participants were less than 6 months postpartum. The questionnaire consisted of 34 questions with one or several answer options. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and IBM SPSS 29.0.1.0 software. All differences were considered statistically significant if the probability of error (p) was less than 0.05. Results. The participants were divided into two groups: those who were vaccinated during pregnancy (VDP) with at least one vaccine recommended for pregnant women (N = 97, 23.6%), and those who were not vaccinated (NVDP) (N = 314, 76.4%). Information about vaccines recommended for pregnant women was more frequently sought from the medical specialist monitoring the pregnancy by the VDP group than the NVDP group (N = 72, 74.2% and N = 109, 34.7%). VDP participants were more likely to report having been offered vaccination than NVDP participants (N = 84, 86.6% and N = 128, 40.7%). The recommendation to vaccinate against seasonal influenza was unknown by N = 6, 6.2% of VDP and N = 37, 11.8% of NVDP, against pertussis by N = 41, 42.3% of VDP and N = 108, 34.4% of NVDP, and against COVID-19 by N = 1, 1% of VDP and N = 13, 4.1% of NVDP. The most common reason for reluctance to get vaccinated was cited as refusal to get vaccinated with any vaccine (N = 178, 35.8%). Conclusions. Less than a quarter of the participants received at least one vaccine recommended for pregnant women. Almost half of the participants did not receive an offer to get vaccinated. The most encouraging factor to get vaccinated was the medical specialist monitoring the pregnancy. Almost three-quarters of the women who received encouragement chose to get vaccinated during pregnancy. The participants primarily sought information about vaccines for pregnant women from the medical specialist monitoring the pregnancy. More than a third of the participants did not know about the recommendation to get vaccinated against pertussis, a tenth against seasonal flu and a few participants against the COVID-19 infection. The main reason for choosing not to get vaccinated with the recommended vaccines was refusal to get vaccinated at all. |
