Danish parents' vaccination readiness is associated with their children's officially registered vaccination history.

Abstract

Previous research has shown that parents' vaccination readiness, as measured by the 7C vaccination readiness scale, helps to understand whether and why parents are (not) willing to vaccinate their children. However, there is a lack of research investigating the association between parents' vaccination readiness and their children's actual vaccine uptake. Addressing this gap, we examined how Danish parents' level of vaccination readiness is associated with their child's vaccination status combining survey with official registry data. Specifically, parents residing in Denmark (N = 2941, 64 % female) completed a survey assessing their level of vaccination readiness with the 7C vaccination readiness scale for parents, trust in different sources of information on vaccination, and certainty about vaccinating their child with the next vaccine in the program. Additionally, official vaccination registry data on various recommended child vaccinations was obtained and matched to the survey data of their parents. Results from logistic regression analyses indicate that parents' readiness to vaccinate their children was substantially associated with completion of children's vaccination doses. More precisely, a one-point increase in parents' vaccination readiness score was associated with a two-fold increase in the likelihood of the child being vaccinated with the three main vaccines in the program. The results also show associations between each of the 7C factors, trust items, and demographic variables with real behavior as well as parents' certainty to vaccinate their children in the future. The findings further substantiate the usefulness of assessing parental vaccination readiness, with potential implications for intervention planning by researchers and policymakers.