Vaccination information fathers receive during pregnancy and determinants of infant vaccination timeliness

Abstract

The information fathers receive about infant vaccination may influence their decision to vaccinate. We describe fathers’ sources of vaccination information and paternal determinants of timely infant vaccinations. Participants were from a child cohort study in New Zealand. The child cohort was established by enrolling pregnant women and their partners. During pregnancy, fathers (n = 4017) of the cohort children born 2009–2010 described information sources that encouraged or discouraged infant vaccination. The National Immunization Register provided infant vaccination data. Independent associations of the vaccination information received by fathers with the timeliness of their infant’s vaccination were determined using multivariable logistic regression. Associations were described using adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. One-third of fathers (1430/4017 [36%]) recalled receiving vaccination information, 64% of which encouraged vaccination. Most infants (2900/4017 [72%]) received all their vaccinations on time, however only 58% of Māori infants were vaccinated on time. Paternal determinants of vaccination timeliness were the father receiving discouraging or conflicting information about vaccination, father’s ethnicity, father’s vaccination hesitancy, and whether the mother received vaccination information. To improve vaccination uptake and timeliness, a vaccination conversation with mothers, fathers and whānau could be included in routine antenatal care, informing and supporting decision-making, and addressing concerns. Vaccination education should address present and historic distrust of the health system. Framing vaccination within a Māori model of health and including fathers and whānau in decision-making will address vaccination inequities in New Zealand.

Keywords

• vaccination
• decision making
• infant
• fathers
• pregnancy