School of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine of the Second University of Naples, Naples, Italy.
Euro Surveill. 2014 Sep 4;19(35):20889. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.es2014.19.35.20889.
In Italy, infant vaccinations are mandatory for four infectious diseases: diphtheria, polio, tetanus and hepatitis B. In the past, there was widespread apprehension in Italy that doing away with obligatory vaccinations would reduce the coverage rate, but the possibility of making vaccinations optional has recently become more popular. The objectives of this study were to investigate parental willingness to vaccinate their children if those vaccinations were no longer mandatory and to evaluate the variables influencing this intention. We conducted face-to-face structured interviews with 1,039 parents at public health vaccination centres in four cities of the Campania region of southern Italy. Most respondents (91.9%) said that they would certainly (69.4%) or probably (22.5%) vaccinate their children if vaccinations were not mandatory. The belief that vaccinations are effective and safe was positively associated with willingness to vaccinate their children, whereas having heard that autism is a possible adverse reaction to vaccination was inversely associated with willingness to vaccinate. Nevertheless, in the context of the relatively low 2012* [corrected] vaccination coverage rates in Campania (under the national standard of 95%), our results suggest that eliminating mandatory vaccinations is likely to lead to current coverage rates decreasing to unacceptably low levels, significantly below 90%.
在意大利，婴儿接种疫苗是强制性的，针对四种传染病：白喉、脊髓灰质炎、破伤风和乙型肝炎。过去，意大利普遍担心取消强制性疫苗接种会降低接种率，但最近选择接种疫苗的可能性变得更加流行。本研究的目的是调查父母在不再强制接种疫苗的情况下为孩子接种疫苗的意愿，并评估影响这种意愿的变量。我们在意大利南部坎帕尼亚地区的四个城市的公共卫生疫苗接种中心进行了面对面的结构化访谈，共采访了 1039 名父母。大多数受访者（91.9%）表示，如果不再强制接种疫苗，他们肯定（69.4%）或可能（22.5%）会为孩子接种疫苗。相信疫苗是有效和安全的与愿意为孩子接种疫苗呈正相关，而听说自闭症可能是疫苗接种的不良反应与愿意接种疫苗呈负相关。然而，在坎帕尼亚地区 2012 年相对较低的疫苗接种率（低于全国 95%的标准）的背景下，我们的研究结果表明，取消强制性疫苗接种可能导致当前的接种率下降到不可接受的低水平，显著低于 90%。
