Amsterdam Reproduction and Development Research Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Amsterdam UMC Location Vrije Universiteit and University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Front Public Health. 2024 Aug 21;12:1415548. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1415548. eCollection 2024.
Pregnant individuals have an increased risk of severe illness from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. Vaccination is an effective strategy to prevent severe illness and complications for pregnant individuals. Pregnant individuals are often excluded from research and remain hesitant to receive vaccination against COVID-19. It is pivotal to study factors related to vaccine uptake and hesitancy among pregnant individuals. We studied barriers and facilitators for pregnant individuals choice and motivation regarding vaccination against COVID-19 during pregnancy to aid future pregnant individuals in their decision to vaccinate against various infectious agents.
In this qualitative study, pregnant individuals were interviewed between October 2021 and January 2022 using a semi-structured approach. A topic list was used to explore their feelings, perceptions and ideas regarding vaccination against COVID-19 during pregnancy. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematic analyses was performed using MAX QDA.
After nine interviews, saturation was reached. Three main themes were identified that influenced pregnant individuals choice and motivation regarding vaccination: health consequences, ambiguity of information and societal motivation. Health consequences mainly concerned the effect for their offspring, and the unknown long-term effects of COVID-19 vaccination. The advice from the Dutch institute for Public Health and Environment changed from not vaccinating pregnant individuals after release of the developed vaccine, to routinely vaccinating all pregnant individuals after research data were available from the United States of America (USA). This change of policy fuelled doubt and confusion for vaccination. Arguments in favor of vaccination from the social perspective were specific behaviour rules and restrictions due to the pandemic. E.g. without vaccination people were unable to travel abroad and having to take a COVID-19 test every time entering a public place.
Pregnant individuals need clear, unambiguous information concerning health consequences, short- and long-term, particularly for their offspring, in the decision-making process regarding COVID-19 vaccination. Additionally, the societal perspective needs to be addressed. Besides the aforementioned themes, general counselling should focus on misperceptions of vaccine safety and the role of misinformation which are also important in the non-pregnant population. This study underlines the importance of including pregnant individuals in research programs to obtain specific information targeted to their needs.
孕妇感染 2019 冠状病毒病（COVID-19）后出现重症的风险增加。接种疫苗是预防孕妇重症和并发症的有效策略。孕妇通常被排除在研究之外，对接种 COVID-19 疫苗仍持犹豫态度。研究与孕妇接种疫苗的意愿相关的因素至关重要。我们研究了孕妇在怀孕期间接种 COVID-19 疫苗的选择和动机的障碍和促进因素，以帮助未来的孕妇在接种各种传染病疫苗时做出决定。
在这项定性研究中，我们在 2021 年 10 月至 2022 年 1 月期间采用半结构化方法对孕妇进行了访谈。使用主题列表来探讨她们对怀孕期间接种 COVID-19 疫苗的感受、看法和想法。访谈内容逐字记录，并使用 MAX QDA 进行主题分析。
经过 9 次访谈，达到了饱和。确定了三个主要主题，这些主题影响了孕妇对疫苗接种的选择和动机：健康后果、信息模糊性和社会动机。健康后果主要涉及对其后代的影响，以及 COVID-19 疫苗接种的未知长期影响。荷兰公共卫生和环境研究所的建议从最初发布疫苗后不建议孕妇接种，到在美国获得研究数据后，改为常规为所有孕妇接种。这一政策的改变引发了对疫苗接种的怀疑和困惑。从社会角度支持接种疫苗的观点是由于大流行而产生的具体行为规则和限制。例如，不接种疫苗就无法出国旅行，每次进入公共场所都要进行 COVID-19 检测。
在做出 COVID-19 疫苗接种决定时，孕妇需要关于健康后果的清晰、明确的信息，包括短期和长期影响，特别是对其后代的影响。此外，还需要考虑社会角度。除了上述主题外，一般咨询还应侧重于疫苗安全性的误解和错误信息的作用，这在非孕妇人群中也很重要。这项研究强调了将孕妇纳入研究计划以获得针对其需求的特定信息的重要性。
