Baby's Best Shot … or Not? An Adult-Learning Curriculum for Pregnant First-Time Moms In Johns Creek, Ga., Deciding Whether to Fully Vaccinate Their Babies

Background: Vaccination rates are below optimal levels, due to exemptions, misinformation from non-scientific sources, and use of logic and temporality to make vaccination-autism link. Only 70.4 percent of 2-year-olds in Fulton County, Georgia, are fully immunized – the second-lowest county/regional percentage in the state of Georgia (almost 10 percent below the state average. This is not all due to poverty – mothers who do not vaccinate their children are more likely to be white, high-income, married and college-educated women with large families. First-time mothers have been shown to be the most receptive to learning new facts, seek advice from mom peers, and find their own health information. A literature search found no in-person curriculum targeting mothers with adult learning theory and methods.

Setting: Public libraries in Johns Creek, Ga., with available computer rooms with internet access

Population: Pregnant first-time mothers living in, working in, shopping in or otherwise spending time in Johns Creek, Fulton County, Ga.

Project Description: The curriculum aims to help mothers make a scientifically informed decision on whether to fully vaccinate their infants, using adult learning theory and methods. In session one, learners formulate their own questions about child vaccination and decide how to seek and recognize reliable information to answer them. In session two, learners find answers to their own questions about child vaccination. In the final session, learners apply the knowledge and skills gained in sessions 1 and 2 to simulated real-life vaccine situations.

Results/Lessons Learned: High-socioeconomic status women are frequently defying scientific consensus and choosing to not vaccinate their children, based on information they and their peers have gathered. However, some women may not be familiar with academic research. If implemented, this curriculum could harness these mothers’ familiarity with online searches, but adding in an educational component regarding ways of science-based knowing and deciding.