Systematic Review: A Qualitative Analysis of the Influences Affecting Parental Acceptance of Rotavirus Vaccine and Comprehensive Review: Evaluating Anti-Vaccine Attitudes, the Resurgence of Vaccine Preventable Diseases due to Exemptions, and the Necessity for Vaccine Mandate

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate factors contributing to the rotavirus vaccine parental hesitancy. We hypothesize that the greatest cause of hesitancy is the fear of intussusception. Identifying hesitancy factors will enable physicians to address concerns and help parents make informed decisions regarding the vaccine. Study Design: A comprehensive search was done for key words on PubMed and OvidSP. MeSH terms were combined and filters were utilized to find relevant primary articles. Articles were screened based on titles, abstracts, conclusions, and full texts. Last search was completed on August 25, 2016. Three additional articles were found through other resources and searching references. A total of 32 articles supported the background and 4 articles supported the analysis. Results: This Systematic Review identified key barriers that are still causing parental rotavirus vaccine hesitancy: fear of side effects, cost of rotavirus vaccine, vaccine not included in free public programs, not protecting against all diarrhea, given in three doses, child receiving enough vaccines, vaccine is not useful, not wanting to administer a live vaccine, newness of the vaccine, narrow window of age for the vaccine, immunity achieved from acquiring the virus itself, needing to evaluate data, producing a stronger mutated virus, preventing through holistic approaches, and a perceived lack of disease threat. Conclusion: Identifying hesitancy factors enables advancements in parental acceptance of the rotavirus vaccine through increasing parental awareness of disease burden, removing rotavirus vaccine age limits, and educating parents on vaccine myths. Limitations include a narrow number of databases used and filtering for English-only articles.