High rates of vaccine hesitancy among pregnant women during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Japan

Figures & data

Table 1. Sociodemographic characteristics of study population (N = 113).

Demographics	n (%)
Maternal age (years)
18–24	3 (2.7)
25–30	48 (42.5)
31–35	39 (34.5)
36–41	23 (20.4)
Maternal education level
Junior college or less	63 (55.7)
Four-year college degree	43 (38.1)
More than 4-year college degree	6 (5.3)
Household annual income (thousand yen)
<3000	7 (6.2)
3000–4999	41 (36.3)
5000–6999	36 (31.9)
7000–9999	24 (21.2)
≧10,000	3 (2.7)
Number of child(ren) in house hold
0	52 (46.0)
1	43 (38.1)
≧2	17 (15.0)
Maternal employment status
Unemployed	37 (32.7)
Employed	76 (67.3)

Figure 1. Distribution of parent attitudes about childhood vaccines (PACV) scores.

Table 2. Maternal responses to the parent attitudes about childhood vaccines (PACV) survey.

	Questionairres	Response (PACV Score)
		2	1	0	P-values
		n (%)	n (%)	n (%)	3 groups*	Scores 0 and 2**
#1	How sure are you that following the recommended shot schedule is a good idea for your child? Please answer on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is Not at all sure and 10 is Completely sure.	0–5	6–7	8–10
		19 (16.8)	25 (22.1)	69 (61.1)	<0.01	<0.001
#2	Children get more shots than are good for them.	Agree	Not sure	Disagree
		12 (10.6)	42 (37.2)	59 (52.2)	<0.01	<0.001
#3	I believe that many of the illnesses that shots prevent are severe.	Disagree	Not sure	Agree
		10 (8.8)	9 (8.0)	94 (83.2)	<0.01	<0.001
#4	It is better for my child to develop immunity by getting sick than to get a shot.	Agree	Not sure	Disagree
		4 (3.5)	7 (6.2)	101 (89.4)	<0.01	<0.001
#5	It is better for children to get fewer vaccines at the same time.	Agree	Not sure	Disagree
		23 (20.4)	42 (37.2)	48 (42.5)	<0.05	<0.004
#6	How concerned are you that your child might have a serious side effect from a shot?	Concerned	Not sure	Not concerned
		90 (79.6)	5 (4.4)	18 (15.9)	<0.01	<0.001
#7	How concerned are you that any one of the childhood shots might not be safe?	Concerned	Not sure	Not concerned
		78 (69.0)	8 (7.1)	27 (23.9)	<0.01	<0.001
#8	How concerned are you that a shot might not prevent the disease?	Concerned	Not sure	Not concerned
		54 (47.8)	19 (16.8)	40 (35.4)	<0.01	0.18
#9	Overall, how hesitant about childhood shots would you consider yourself to be?	Hesitant	Unsure	Non-hesitant
		57 (50.4)	11 (9.7)	45 (39.8)	<0.01	0.28
#10	I trust the information I receive about shots.	Disagree	Not sure	Agree
		5 (4.4)	22 (19.5)	86 (76.1)	<0.01	<0.001
#11	I am able to openly discuss my concerns about shots with my child’s doctor.	Disagree	Not sure	Agree
		6 (5.3)	42 (37.2)	65 (57.5)	<0.01	<0.001
#12	All things considered, how much do you trust your child’s doctor? Please answer on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is Do not trust at all and 10 is Completely trust.	0–5	6–7	8–10
		24 (21.2)	18 (15.9)	70 (61.9)	<0.01	<0.001

*Bonferroni multiple comparison post hoc test.

**Chi-square or Fisher’s exact test.

Table 3. Associations of socio-demographic characteristics and vaccine hesitancy.

Demographics		Hesitant (n = 46)n (%)	Non-hesitant (n = 67)n (%)	p-value
Maternal age (year)
18–24		14 (30.4)	14 (20.9)	0.71
25–30		11 (23.9)	19 (28.4)
31–35		12 (26.1)	15 (22.4)
36–41		9 (19.6)	19 (28.4)
Maternal education level				0.03
Junior college or less		32 (69.6)	31 (46.3)
Four-year college degree		9 (19.6)	34 (50.7)
More than 4-year college degree		4 (8.7)	2 (2.9)
Household annual income (thousand yen)				0.08
≦5000		24 (52.2)	24 (35.8)
>5000		21 (45.7)	42 (62.7)
Number of children in household				0.06
0		26 (56.5)	26 (38.8)
≧1		20 (43.5)	41 (61.2)
Maternal employment status				0.27
Unemployed		17 (37.0)	20 (29.9)
Employed		29 (63.0)	47 (70.1)

Chi-square test. (P value of <.05 was considered significant for differences between vaccine hesitant and non vaccine hesitant group.)

Table 4. Logistic regression analysis of factors associated with vaccine hesitancy.

	n	B	Standard error	P-Value	Odds ratio	95% Confidence interval
Maternal education level		0.495	0.351	0.159	1.64	0.824–3.267
Some college or less	63
Four-year college degree	43
More than 4-year college degree	6
Household annual income (thousand yen)		0.446	0.418	0.286	1.562	0.689–3.554
≦5000	28
>5000	63
Number of children in household		0.859	0.416	0.039*	2.38	1.044–5.335
0	52
≧1	61
Maternal employment status		−0.235	0.447	0.599	0.791	0.329–1.9
Unemployed	37
Employed	76

*statistically significant.