Investigation on enterovirus 71 vaccine immunization willingness of parents with children aged 5 years in Baoshan district, Shanghai

Objective To understand the awareness of enterovirus(EV)71 vaccine and vaccination willing of the parents with children aged 5 years in Baoshan district of Shanghai, and provide basis for the development of EV71 vaccine immunization strategy as well as prevention and control of hand foot and mouth disease (HFMD). Methods A survey with self-designed questionnaire was performed among 600 parents selected through stratified random sampling from 6 urban and rural communities in Baoshan in January 2017.Results A total of 597 valid questionnaires were collected (99.50%). In the previous year, 34 children were attacked by HFMD. the attack rate was 5.70%, the re-infection rate was 8.82%. Investigation indicated that 62.31% of the parents had heard of EV71 vaccine, the information about EV71 vaccine were mainly obtained from Internet(55.11%), TV/radio(47.85%), colleagues, relatives and friends(45.97%), doctors(28.49%), newspapers/books/magazines (18.01%). Up to 71.02% of the parents expressed their willingness to have their children to be vaccinated against HFMD. Factors influencing vaccination willingness were the age of children. The reasons for rejecting vaccination included the worry about vaccine safety(38.24%), lack of vaccine protection effect information(31.96%), belief of their children being not affected by HFMD (16.88%), and the non-free vaccine (9.52%).Conclusion The awareness rate EV71 vaccine was not high in the parents with children aged 5 years in Baoshan, It is necessary to strengthen the health education about the safety and effect of EV71 vaccine in order to improve vaccination rate