‘I Think I Made The Right Decision … I Hope I'm Not Wrong’. Vaccine hesitancy, commitment and trust among parents of young children

• Published in: Sociology of health & illness Vol. 41; no. 6; pp. 1192 - 1206
• Main Authors: Peretti‐Watel, Patrick, Ward, Jeremy K., Vergelys, Chantal, Bocquier, Aurélie, Raude, Jocelyn, Verger, Pierre
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.07.2019; Wiley
• Subjects: Acceptance; Alienation; Bacteriology; Cardiology and cardiovascular system; Child, Preschool; childhood vaccination; Children; Decision Making; Emerging diseases; France; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health literacy; Health research; Human health and pathology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Immunization; Infectious diseases; Internet; Interviews as Topic; Life Sciences; Medical research; Microbiology and Parasitology; Parasitology; Parent-child relations; Parents & parenting; Parents - psychology; Patient Acceptance of Health Care; Peers; Physicians; Physicians - psychology; Public Health; Refusal; Santé publique et épidémiologie; Siblings; Significant others; Social media; Socioeconomic Factors; Socioeconomic status; Sociology; Trust; Vaccination; Vaccination Refusal; Vaccine hesitancy; Vaccines; Vaccines - administration & dosage; Virology; France; vaccine hesitancy; France; socioeconomic status; childhood vaccination; Childhood vaccination; Socioeconomic status; Vaccine hesitancy
• ISSN: 0141-9889; 1467-9566; 1467-9566
• DOI: 10.1111/1467-9566.12902

During the last decade, public health research has emphasised the growing public disaffection with vaccination. This contemporary vaccine hesitation (VH) refers to a delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines, as well as agreement despite doubt and reluctance. We investigated VH among French parents of young children, with an emphasis on two key features of VH: trust towards physicians and commitment to vaccination issues. We targeted two populations with contrasting socioeconomic profiles, using in‐depth interviews (n = 25). Most parents exhibited some kind of VH, with differentiated attitudes across vaccines, including acceptance despite enduring doubts, especially for vaccines already provided to older siblings (‘vaccine inertia’). Despite the rise of the Internet and social media, our participants still strongly relied on face‐to‐face interactions with peers and significant others. Most participants trusted their own physician but this was the result of a selection process: they had engaged resources to find a physician they could trust. Participants with contrasted socioeconomic profiles struggled with the same dilemmas, and they committed themselves to the same quest to find the ‘right’ physician. Nevertheless, parents with a higher socioeconomic status were able to engage more resources and use a wider repertoire of actions, and they also displayed greater health literacy.