Acceptance of an Emergently Released Vaccine by the General Public: 2009 H1N1 Influenza Pandemic Vaccine

Abstract

The recent experience with the 2009 H1N1 pandemic has drawn attention to the need to better understand the public’s response to emergently released vaccines (ERV). This study applied a mixed methods approach to examine the causal pathways underlying the vaccination behaviour during a public health emergency. The integrated evidence from empirical and theoretical-based findings highlights a number of factors to consider in interventions to improve vaccination rates with an ERV. These factors include: 1) providing clear risk messages around the disease and the ERV, 2) improving accessibility to the vaccine, 3) encouraging primary healthcare providers to provide recommendations for vaccination, 4) implementing strategies to increase seasonal influenza vaccination prior to the next public health emergency, 5) developing strategies to target sub-populations more reluctant to accept an ERV. Developing theory-based interventions that are behaviour-specific may be more likely to result in behaviour change within the public in future emergency vaccination campaigns.