Uptake of Commonwealth funded influenza vaccines for Australian children aged 6-months to <5 years during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background: Children aged under five years are at increased risk of infection and complications of influenza. We investigated the uptake of the influenza vaccine for young children, and parent/carer attitudes and beliefs about the influenza vaccines.

Methods: A national quantitative online survey of Australian parents and carers was conducted by an external research company at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. A total of 1563 Australian parents and carers with at least one child aged 6-months to <5 years clicked the link to the survey, 1026 completed the survey, producing 1000 eligible responses (64% completion rate).

Results: Just over half (56.5%) of children were fully vaccinated against influenza in 2021. A further 13.5% of children were partially protected having received one dose in their first year. Knowing that the influenza vaccine was free for their child (OR 2.211; 95% CI 1.572, 3.109, p < 0.001), recommendation from a general practitioner (OR 1.827, 95% 1.115, 2.993, p = 0.017), and being influenced by a nurse/midwife (OR 1.564, 95% 1.068, 2.290, p = 0.022) positively predicted vaccine uptake. Conversely, not receiving a recommendation from a health professional to vaccinate was associated with lower uptake (OR 0.187; 95% CI 0.105, 0.335, p < 0.001). Many parents and carers worried about the safety of the influenza vaccine for their child (46.3%) and held erroneous beliefs such as you can catch influenza from the vaccine (42.5%), the vaccine overwhelmed their child's immune system (33.9%), and natural immunity against influenza is better than the vaccine (41.2%).

Conclusions: Access to a free vaccine, health care provider recommendations and ongoing efforts to improve parent's understanding and trust of influenza vaccines are essential to increase uptake in young children.

Keywords: COVID-19; Children; Free influenza vaccine; Immunisation; Influenza; Influenza vaccine policy; Parental attitudes; Vaccine misinformation.