Expanding the National Immunization Survey-Teen to Evaluate Parental Concerns about Vaccine Safety: What Is In the Parental Concerns Module?

Background:  Parents who have concerns about vaccine safety or efficacy may delay or refuse the administration of vaccines for their adolescent children.  More research is needed to (1) identify and understand the reasons for their concerns, (2) evaluate the association between having concerns and vaccination coverage, and (3) track concerns over time.   

Setting:  Parents of adolescents aged 13-17 years who are sampled by the National Immunization Survey-Teen (NIS-Teen) are asked questions about their concerns about vaccines. The Parental Concerns (PC) module was conducted during July 2010 through December 2010. 

Population:  Parents of adolescents aged 13-17 years in the U.S.

Project Description:  Data collected by the NIS-Teen PC module include questions on parents’ perceptions about the necessity, safety, and efficacy of vaccines; satisfaction with information about vaccines given by their child’s vaccination provider; influences on their vaccination decisions; past refusal to vaccinate or request to delay the administration of vaccines for their child as well as which vaccines were refused or delayed and reasons for refusal or delay.

Results/Lessons Learned:  The Parental Concerns module will provide important information on beliefs that may affect immunization rates among adolescents.  The module may be repeated in subsequent years in the NIS-Teen to evaluate trends in those concerns. Information obtained from the module may be used by CDC and others to help develop better materials to communicate with parents who have vaccination concerns.