Cognitive factors of differences in vaccination patterns: the perceived risks of action and inaction

Abstract

In recent years, worldwide decrease in vaccination coverage due to the negative attitudes of the population towards vaccination has been detected. This article has been tasked to quantify the applicability of the model of health beliefs (Health Belief Model) and its components to predict the vaccination patterns in a Russian population sample (city of Saint-Petersburg). We used the subsample of persons who have minor children (N = 260) from a representative telephone survey of adult residents of St. Petersburg. About 20% of the respondents have incompletely vaccinated children; including 4% vaccinated incompletely in the absence of medical grounds. The most predictive component of the model in relation to the vaccination pattern is a perceived vaccine safety (barrier). The perceived disease susceptibility and severity of preventable diseases did not act as significant predictors of the vaccination pattern. Refs 18. Table 1.