“That’s a tricky question”: perceptions of mandatory vaccination among parents and paediatricians in Austria

IF 3.6 3区医学 Q1 HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES

Health Policy Pub Date : 2025-04-25 DOI:10.1016/j.healthpol.2025.105331

Nora Hansl, Katharina T. Paul

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic and recurrent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases highlight the need to improve vaccine uptake. Vaccine mandates constitute prominent policy instruments that promise a quick increase in coverage. Yet mandates are difficult to implement and bear the potential to increase resistance and polarisation, while diminishing trust. Against this background, studying perceptions towards mandates of groups directly affected by mandates is key to sustainable vaccination governance

Objective

In this paper, we study parents as decision-makers for childhood immunisation and paediatricians who administer vaccination and mitigate reactance. We explore how these two groups perceive vaccine mandates

Methods

Our study builds on 42 qualitative interviews with parents and paediatricians. We draw on the case of Austria, which is characterised by a fragmented vaccination system and recent experiences with mandates

Results

Perceptions overall are ambivalent, with both cohorts weighing positive and negative aspects. We find four lines of reasoning that relate to perceptions of vaccine mandates: political and societal impact, epidemiological reasoning, ethical considerations, and impact on vaccine uptake. Both cohorts show considerable alignment in their perceptions. Crucially, we find that perceptions of mandates are formed in contextual, concrete experiences with the healthcare system

Conclusions

Our findings have critical implications for vaccination policy in Austria and beyond, especially concerning the distribution of responsibility in vaccination systems.

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“这是一个棘手的问题”：奥地利父母和儿科医生对强制性疫苗接种的看法

2019冠状病毒病大流行和疫苗可预防疾病的反复暴发突出了提高疫苗接种率的必要性。疫苗授权是重要的政策工具，有望迅速提高覆盖率。然而，授权很难执行，而且有可能增加阻力和两极分化，同时削弱信任。在此背景下，研究受授权直接影响的群体对授权的看法是可持续疫苗接种治理的关键。目的在本文中，我们研究了作为儿童免疫接种决策者的父母和管理疫苗接种并减轻抵制情绪的儿科医生。我们探讨了这两个群体如何看待疫苗的要求。方法：本研究建立在对父母和儿科医生的42次定性访谈的基础上。我们借鉴了奥地利的案例，其特点是支离破碎的疫苗接种系统和最近的授权经验。结果总体上的看法是矛盾的，两个队列都在权衡积极和消极的方面。我们发现与疫苗授权的看法有关的四条推理线：政治和社会影响、流行病学推理、伦理考虑以及对疫苗摄取的影响。两组人的看法都相当一致。至关重要的是，我们发现对授权的看法是在医疗保健系统的背景和具体经验中形成的。结论：我们的研究结果对奥地利和其他国家的疫苗接种政策具有重要意义，特别是关于疫苗接种系统的责任分配。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Health Policy 医学-卫生保健

CiteScore

6.40

自引率

6.10%

发文量

157

审稿时长

3-8 weeks

期刊介绍： Health Policy is intended to be a vehicle for the exploration and discussion of health policy and health system issues and is aimed in particular at enhancing communication between health policy and system researchers, legislators, decision-makers and professionals concerned with developing, implementing, and analysing health policy, health systems and health care reforms, primarily in high-income countries outside the U.S.A.