Trust in the Public Health System and Seasonal-Influenza Vaccination

Abstract

Human vaccination is a complex process that engages social actors, products, infrastructures, and ideology. We explore the role of trust in the healthcare system for immunization with the sea­sonal influenza vaccine. We use data from a prob­abilistic national representative survey among Romanian adults 18 years old or older (n = 2115) fielded in 2019. Binary logistic regression modeling shows that probability of vaccinating against sea­sonal influenza is higher when the participants trust the overall healthcare system [Odds Ratio = 1.36,p ≤ 0.001], discussed, and gathered information about vaccines [OR = 3.12, p ≤ 0.001], had positive evaluations of the vaccination services [OR = 2.19,p ≤ 0.001], and evaluate today’s vaccine as being saf­er [OR = 3.05, p ≤ 0.001] or at least as safe [OR = 2.11, p ≤ 0.001] than those from the past. Results suggest that trust in the family physicians is built through personal experiences with them which can be easily adjusted in contrast with overall trust in the health­care system. Increasing the quality of vaccines and vaccination and emphasizing vaccines’ benefits and safety is not sufficient but just the tip of the iceberg; the entire healthcare system needs a serious facelift which will make it trustworthy.

Keywords

• seasonal-influenza vaccine/vaccination
• vaccine hesitancy
• trust in the healthcare system.