Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

“It’S Like 1998 Again”: Why Parents Still Refuse And Delay Vaccines, Jiana L. Ugale, Heather Spielvogle, Christine Spina, Cathryn Perreira, Ben Katz, Barbara Pahud, Phd Amanda F. Dempsey Md, Jeffrey D. Robinson Phd, Kathleen Garrett Ma, Mph Sean T. O’Leary Md, Mph Douglas J. Opel Md

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

We conducted a qualitative study from 2018 to 2019 to update the reasons why US parents’ refuse or delay vaccines. Four focus groups and 4 semi-structured interviews involving 33 primary care pediatric providers were conducted in Washington and Colorado. A thematic analysis was conducted to identify themes related to reasons for parental refusal or delay. Five predominant themes were identified: (1) vaccine safety, (2) relative influence of information sources, decision-makers, and timing, (3) low perceived risk of contracting vaccine-preventable disease, (4) lack of trust, and (5) religious objection. Vaccine safety was the theme mentioned most frequently by providers (N = …