| Abstract [eng] |
Introduction. Although vaccination coverage in European countries is high (especially with vaccines in childhood vaccination programs), vaccination coverage is not sufficient in some countries or population groups. The biggest challenges are vaccine mistrust, the spread of misleading information, and “post-pandemic” fatigue. Coordinated efforts are needed to increase vaccination coverage – changing the attitudes in public and health professionals through evidence-based information. Objective. To assess the coverage of the 2012–2022 children's preventive vaccination calendar, adult vaccinations reimbursed by state funds, and the implementation of the 2019–2023 national immunization program. Survey tasks. 1. To conduct an analysis of the coverage of children's and adults’ vaccinations reimbursed by state funds in 2012–2022. 2. To assess the attitudes of healthcare professionals performing vaccinations, the practice of communication about vaccines, and the prevalence of parents' concerns about vaccination safety. Methods. A descriptive-epidemiological analysis was performed to assess vaccination coverage. An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted – 207 healthcare professionals were interviewed via an online survey. The obtained categorical data are presented as frequencies, and numerical data – as means and standard deviations, statistical differences were assessed using the Pearson χ2 test. Results. Vaccination according to the children's preventive vaccination calendar by 2009 achieved sufficiently high vaccination coverage (94–99 percent of those vaccinated), allowing to control infectious diseases, however, a decrease in vaccination coverage is currently observed. A survey of healthcare professionals showed that most often parents indicate to them concerns about adverse reactions to vaccines - both local (73.9 percent) and systemic (43.5 percent). When assessing the specialty of healthcare professionals, it was observed that patients more often express this concern to nurses and pediatricians. 4 out of 5 (79.2 percent) respondents often or always feel comfortable answering parents' questions or concerns. In many cases, vaccination is not carried out according to the children's preventive vaccination calendar due to an acute illness - the majority of respondents (70.5%) often or occasionally must deviate from the children's preventive vaccination calendar for this reason. Conclusions: Vaccination coverage with vaccines included in the children's preventive vaccination calendar is decreasing, the result sought by the National Immunoprophylaxis Program for 2019–2023 has been achieved only by vaccinating half of the vaccines included in the children's preventive vaccination calendar of the Republic of Lithuania. Three-quarters of healthcare professionals' parents indicate doubts about local, systemic adverse reactions to vaccines. Although the legal acts provide that information about the vaccination performed must be filled in the eHealth system in each case, almost three-quarters of healthcare professionals always do so. A statistically significant difference was observed between the healthcare professional's attitude towards vaccination and the appointment of additional time for patient consultations - almost two-thirds of respondents with a positive attitude towards vaccination often or always allocate additional time or a separate visit for consultations on immunoprophylaxis. Twice as many specialists working in small personal healthcare institutions never or rarely provide additional consultations, the differences are statistically significant. Healthcare professionals identified the main challenges related to encouraging parents to vaccinate their children, emphasizing parents' negative attitudes towards vaccination, reluctance to communicate or discuss this topic, to listen to recommendations, and failure to attend scheduled doctor visits. |
