Parents and health-care workers are reluctant to be immunized or vaccinate their children against a pandemic virus for fear that a drug would be brought to market with insufficient testing, a new Canadian study has found.
As governments worldwide place orders for the new H1N1 drug, the hesitancy to receive a vaccine shot presents a new hurdle for public health authorities as they attempt to contain the spread of the pandemic influenza virus.
The study, published yesterday in the Emerging Health Threats Journal, found that those surveyed believed they were at low risk of being infected, and, as a result, they were tentative about being vaccinated.
"Across the board, most people said they would need to know a lot more information about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, and a lot more about how risky the disease is before they would consider using it," said Natalie Henrich, co-author of the paper and an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia. "People felt there was a lot they could do to protect themselves without needing a vaccine."
Canada has ordered 50 million doses from GlaxoSmithKline, which is contracted to produce pandemic flu vaccine for Canadians. And while most cases have been mild, there is no predicting the severity and timing of the pandemic strain's behaviour going into the fall. It could gain strength as early as next month with the aid of classrooms serving as incubators.
Prof. Henrich acknowledged that if the strain turns more virulent, more people will likely line-up for vaccinations.
The researchers conducted 11 focus groups in Vancouver before the onset of the current pandemic, and asked 85 participants how willing they would be to accept a new vaccine in the event of a pandemic. The groups consisted of health-care workers, parents, new immigrants and university students. The sample size may be small, but the responses given serve as an indication of the work officials have ahead of them in getting the public and health-care workers to receive vaccinations.
The public will need to be reassured that a vaccine is just as necessary as hand washing and other social distancing measures, Prof. Henrich said.
The Public Health Agency of Canada stressed yesterday that it has strict rules before rolling out a vaccine.
"Public safety is paramount: we will strike the right balance between the need to have an H1N1 vaccine available quickly, and the imperative to ensure that vaccine is safe and effective," the agency said in an e-mail.
