Silvonen Taru, Kesten Jo, Cabral Christie, Coast Jo, Ben-Shlomo Yoav, Christensen Hannah
Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Behavioural Science and Evaluation, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research Applied Research Collaboration West (NIHR ARC West), University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, Bristol BS1 2NT, UK.
Vaccines (Basel). 2023 Apr 20;11(4):870. doi: 10.3390/vaccines11040870.
Vaccination reduces the risks related to infectious disease, especially among more vulnerable groups, such as older adults. The vaccines available to older adults in the UK through the government-funded programme currently include influenza, pneumococcal, shingles and COVID-19 vaccines. The purpose of the programme is disease prevention and improving wellbeing among the ageing population. Yet, the target population's views of the programme remain unknown. This paper aims to increase the understanding of older adults' perceptions of the vaccination programme available in the UK. A total of 13 online focus groups (56 informants) were carried out for this qualitative study. The findings indicate that getting vaccinated involves personal decision-making processes, which are influenced by previous experiences and interpersonal interactions. Factors related to the wider community and culture are less prominent in explaining vaccination decisions. However, opportunistic vaccination offers, a lack of information and a lack of opportunities to discuss vaccines, especially with healthcare professionals, are prominent factors. The study provides in-depth data about the rationale behind older adults' vaccination decisions in the UK. We recommend that the provision of information and opportunities to discuss vaccines and infectious disease be improved to enable older adults' to make better informed decisions regarding the vaccines available to them.
接种疫苗可降低与传染病相关的风险，尤其是在老年人等较为脆弱的群体中。目前，英国老年人通过政府资助项目可接种的疫苗包括流感疫苗、肺炎球菌疫苗、带状疱疹疫苗和新冠疫苗。该项目的目的是预防疾病并改善老年人群体的健康状况。然而，目标人群对该项目的看法仍然未知。本文旨在增进对英国老年人对接种疫苗项目看法的理解。为此项定性研究共开展了13个在线焦点小组（56名受访者）。研究结果表明，接种疫苗涉及个人决策过程，这一过程受到以往经历和人际互动的影响。在解释接种疫苗的决定时，与更广泛社区和文化相关的因素不太突出。然而，机会性疫苗接种提议、信息缺乏以及缺乏讨论疫苗的机会，尤其是与医疗保健专业人员讨论的机会，是突出的因素。该研究提供了有关英国老年人接种疫苗决定背后理由的深入数据。我们建议改善提供信息以及讨论疫苗和传染病的机会，以使老年人能够就他们可接种的疫苗做出更明智的决定。
