Understanding barriers to vaccination against invasive meningococcal disease: a survey of the knowledge gap and potential solutions

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) is a leading cause of life-threatening bacterial meningitis and septicemia. Evidence points to a knowledge gap among parents, teenagers, and healthcare providers (HCPs) regarding IMD and available vaccines, including those against the highly prevalent serogroup B.

Areas covered

An online survey was conducted between March 27 and 12 April 2019, to gather insights into the knowledge that parents/guardians have about IMD vaccines. The children were aged 2 months to 10 years in Australia, Brazil, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Spain, 5–20 years in the UK, and 16–23 years in the USA. The findings were discussed in the context of the available literature and solutions were proposed to minimize the knowledge gap and the barriers to vaccination against IMD.

Expert opinion

The survey demonstrated that parents have a good understanding of IMD but a limited understanding of the different serogroups and vaccines. The available literature highlighted multiple barriers to IMD vaccine uptake; these may be reduced through education of HCPs, clear recommendations to parents by HCPs, the use of technology, and disease-awareness initiatives that engage parents through physical and digital channels. Further studies are warranted to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on IMD vaccination.

KEYWORDS:

• Invasive meningococcal disease
• knowledge gap
• meningitis
• survey
• vaccination

Article highlights

• Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) is a leading cause of life-threatening bacterial meningitis and septicemia

• Effective vaccines against several meningococcal serogroups are widely approved and recommended to prevent IMD; this includes vaccines against serogroup B, which is the most common serogroup in many countries in the Americas, Europe, and the Western Pacific

• Previous studies revealed a limited understanding among parents/guardians regarding IMD and available vaccines, and this could represent a barrier to vaccination of their children

• The findings of this online survey of parents/guardians around the world and the available literature highlighted a knowledge gap among parents/guardians, teenagers, healthcare providers, and organizations regarding IMD and the available vaccines, including vaccines against the highly prevalent serogroup B

• We propose solutions to address this knowledge gap, including education of HCPs, clear communication to parents by HCPs, and disease-awareness initiatives

Acknowledgments

Medical writing support was provided by Matthew Reynolds and Silvia Pregnolato of Apollo, OPEN Health Communications, funded by GSK Biologicals SA, in accordance with Good Publication Practice 3 (GPP) guidelines (www.ismpp.org/gpp-2022).

Declaration of interest

I Ballalai has received honoraria from AstraZeneca, GSK, Pfizer, and Sanofi, M Horn has received honoraria from AstraZeneca, Bavarian Nordic, GSK, MSD, Novartis Vaccines, Pfizer, and Sanofi. V Smith has received honoraria from GSK and Sanofi, which was paid to the Meningitis Research Foundation, and travel grants from Pfizer. N Vicic is currently an employee of Moderna (Associate Medical Director, Medical Affairs) and holds stock options. R Bekkat-Berkani and L Soumahoro are employees of GSK and hold stock options. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or material discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14760584.2023.2211163.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This article was funded by GSK Biologicals SA.