Diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccination: understanding the perspectives and expectations of parents and healthcare professionals in France and India

ABSTRACT

Diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) combination vaccines are a cornerstone of infant vaccinations worldwide. DTP vaccine acceptance could be impacted by sub-optimal relationships between parents and healthcare professionals (HCPs). This survey, conducted in France and India between 14/2/2020 and 26/3/2020, aimed to understand perspectives and expectations of parents and HCPs toward DTP vaccination. Participants were parents (parents/guardians of ≤3-year-old children; France: n = 1002, India: n = 1021) and HCPs (general practitioners/pediatricians initiating DTP vaccination; France: n = 300; India: n = 300) who chose to take part. A representative sample of parents was achieved via quotas and random iterative weighting to match key demographics of the target population. In India, only parents from socio-economic classes A/B/C and private HCPs were included. Whilst DTP vaccine acceptance was high among parents in France (85%) and India (98%), French HCPs overestimated parental acceptance (99% thought parents were very/fairly accepting). The proportions of parents reporting that the HCP is someone they trust versus the proportions of HCPs wanting to be seen as trusted were discrepant in France (76% versus 90%) but not India (83% versus 85%). Some surveyed parents indicated that, ideally, they would like some input in vaccine brand decisions alongside HCPs, an opinion shared by some HCPs. In France, short-term experience post-vaccination was more important to parents than HCPs, for whom long-term protection was more important. In India, these aspects were equally important to both. Increased awareness of parents’ priorities and concerns regarding DTP vaccination can support HCPs in their discussions with parents and help build trust, which may impact vaccine acceptance.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• DTP vaccine
• healthcare professional
• hexavalent
• parent
• survey
• vaccine acceptance

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Rafael Lage for his continued input in the ideation of the project and in the design of the survey and the study participants for their contribution to the study and Lauriane Harrington for her input in the conception of the survey. The authors thank the Modis platform for editorial assistance and manuscript coordination, on behalf of GSK. Irena Zurnic Bönisch and Natalie Denef provided medical writing support, Gil Costa designed the figures and Camille Turlure coordinated the manuscript development and editorial support.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

ET, RP and VB are employees of the GSK group of companies and declare financial and non-financial relationships and activities. ET, RP and VB hold shares in the company. GS’s and GC’s company received funding from the GSK group of companies to perform the study. VY declares having received personal fees from the GSK group of companies. PB declares no conflicts of interest.

Authors’ contributions

ET, RP and VB: conceptualization, writing – original draft, writing – review and editing; GC and GS: conceptualization, formal analysis, methodology, writing – review and editing; VY: conceptualization, writing – review and editing; PB: writing – review and editing. All authors attest they meet the ICMJE criteria for authorship.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website at https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2021.1961468.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA, including all costs associated with the development and publication of this manuscript [NA];