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Children and Young Adults’ attitudes towards vaccinations – what they know and what they have to say

                                                                                                                                            

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Children and Young Adults’ attitudes towards vaccinations – what they know and what they have to say 

Vaccines are crucial for the health of the nation, and understanding attitudes and perceptions of vaccines is fundamental to increase uptake. Most vaccinations in the UK are given to children and young people (CYP), however, uptake is below the recommended levels in all four nations and concerns about trust, access and safety.

The RSPH carried out innovative research with a sample of CYP from across the UK to understand their experiences, perceptions and attitudes towards vaccines. This is the first time that CYP have been asked about their views and had a chance to share what they think about vaccines, what they know about them, where they get information from, alongside their fears and concerns. 

The study found that despite the majority of CYP recognising the importance of vaccines and which diseases there are vaccines for, experiences and perceptions varied by age, ethnicity and also nation. 

We partnered with Dubit, a specialist kids and youth research agency, to conduct qualitative and quantitative research with CYP. 

MSD UK has funded this project and has had no editorial input into the content.

Vaccines radically changed the way deadly infectious diseases affected society, but doubts about vaccines and stark inequalities are impacting uptake. It is positive to see that, overall, children and young people think vaccines are important for their health. However, it is really concerning that those children from diverse backgrounds trust vaccines less and are worried about their safety. We must do better with these groups and ensure they are empowered to make health decisions.

William Roberts, Chief Executive of RSPH

 

School nurses play a significant role in the school-aged immunisation programme with a positive legacy of high uptake rates demonstrating how trusted they are by children and young people and, indeed, their cohesive working alongside schools. It is heartening to see this still borne out in this report. It is, therefore, critical, that there is urgent reinvestment back into school nursing services which have depleted by over 35%, making the delivery of such programmes a challenge and is likely reflected in the lower uptakes we are now witnessing.

Sharon White, Chief Executive of the School and Public Health Nurses Association (SAPHNA)

 

See below for our full list of resources 

Children and Young People’s attitudes towards vaccinations – Full report

Children and Young People’s attitudes towards vaccinations – Executive summary

Vaccines survey  - England

Vaccines survey -  Northern Ireland

Vaccines survey -  Scotland

Vaccines survey -  Wales