Faculty of Public Health and Policy, Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle University London, London, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2020 Dec 28;15(12):e0244049. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0244049. eCollection 2020.
To explore parents' and guardians' views and experiences of accessing National Health Service (NHS) general practices for routine childhood vaccinations during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in England.
Mixed methods approach involving an online cross-sectional survey (conducted between 19th April and 11th May 2020) and semi-structured telephone interviews (conducted between 27th April and 27th May 2020).
1252 parents and guardians (aged 16+ years) who reported living in England with a child aged 18 months or under completed the survey. Nineteen survey respondents took part in follow-up interviews.
The majority of survey respondents (85.7%) considered it important for their children to receive routine vaccinations on schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, several barriers to vaccination were identified. These included a lack of clarity around whether vaccination services were operating as usual, particularly amongst respondents from lower income households and those self-reporting as Black, Asian, Chinese, Mixed or Other ethnicity; difficulties in organising vaccination appointments; and fears around contracting COVID-19 while attending general practice. Concerns about catching COVID-19 while accessing general practice were weighed against concerns about children acquiring a vaccine-preventable disease if they did not receive scheduled routine childhood vaccinations. Many parents and guardians felt their child's risk of acquiring a vaccine-preventable disease was low as the implementation of stringent physical distancing measures (from March 23rd 2020) meant they were not mixing with others.
To promote routine childhood vaccination uptake during the current COVID-19 outbreak, further waves of COVID-19 infection, and future pandemics, prompt and sustained national and general practice level communication is needed to raise awareness of vaccination service continuation and the importance of timely vaccination, and invitation-reminder systems for vaccination need to be maintained. To allay concerns about the safety of accessing general practice, practices should communicate the measures being implemented to prevent COVID-19 transmission.
探索英国家长和监护人在冠状病毒（COVID-19）大流行期间在国民保健制度（NHS）普通诊所为儿童常规接种疫苗的看法和经验。
混合方法，包括在线横断面调查（2020 年 4 月 19 日至 5 月 11 日进行）和半结构式电话访谈（2020 年 4 月 27 日至 5 月 27 日进行）。
1252 名年龄在 16 岁以上的父母和监护人报告与 18 个月或以下的孩子居住在英格兰，完成了调查。19 名调查受访者参加了后续访谈。
大多数调查受访者（85.7%）认为在 COVID-19 大流行期间按计划为孩子接种常规疫苗非常重要；然而，也确定了一些疫苗接种障碍。这些障碍包括对接种服务是否照常运作缺乏明确性，特别是在来自低收入家庭的受访者和自报为黑人、亚洲人、中国人、混血儿或其他族裔的受访者中；安排疫苗接种预约的困难；以及担心在看全科医生时感染 COVID-19。在全科医生就诊时感染 COVID-19 的担忧与担心如果孩子没有接种预定的常规儿童疫苗而患上疫苗可预防疾病的担忧相权衡。许多家长和监护人认为，由于从 2020 年 3 月 23 日起实施严格的身体距离措施，他们的孩子感染疫苗可预防疾病的风险很低，因为他们没有与其他人接触。
为了在当前 COVID-19 爆发期间、未来的 COVID-19 感染浪潮以及未来的大流行中促进常规儿童疫苗接种，需要在国家和全科医生层面进行及时和持续的沟通，提高对疫苗接种服务持续和及时接种重要性的认识，并维持疫苗接种邀请提醒系统。为了减轻对访问全科医生安全的担忧，应告知实践接种措施，以防止 COVID-19 传播。
