Two thirds of the respondents of an opinion poll to find out the parents’ opinion about vaccination are firmly convinced that the vaccination program is beneficial. Some 5% of those polled said the medical staff is among the information sources that argue against immunization. The survey results were presented by university lecturer Olga Buga in a conference held to sum up the resuts of a crossborder project implemented by the Public Association “Child, Community, Family” of the Republic of Moldova and the Foundation “Star of Hope Romania”, IPN reports.
The poll covered 66 respondents from Romania and 202 respondents from the Republic of Moldova. “It goes to the 13% who are not convinced, who do not believe in vaccines and in the benefits of vaccination. We cannot say that they are against vaccine. They hesitate. They dally so as to read more, to talk to the neighbor – this is their attitude. We should work namely with these parents. We should persuade them that vaccination is beneficial to their children and the whole family,” stated Olga Buga. As to hesitation, the poll showed that the number of hesitating persons prevails among the Moldovan respondents.
The pandemic created new obstacles to vaccination. The extent to which negative information about vaccines is disseminated is a problem faced by the implementers of vaccination programs. “We have our arguments that vaccination is beneficial. The parents often invoke counterarguments found in Internet publications, heard from neighbors, relatives and friends. 78% of the respondents said that they heard negative information about vaccination from different sources. In the Republic of Moldova, more persons heard such information than in Romania: 82% as opposed to 65%. This is worrisome as the source of information is not the medial worker, but is another source – the Internet, the mass media. We must increase the population’s confidence in the medical services provided in the medical institution,” stated Olga Buga.
As to the 5% of the respondents who indicated the health workers as a source of information arguing against vaccination, Olga Buga said that the persons from the system who spread negative information about vaccination should be identified. “The health worker a priori cannot spread such information. A health worker who is against vaccination does not have the moral and ethical right to work where they work. This is the law and the tendency is like this. What’s going on in the world is the result of distrust. We can no longer accept something like this.”
