Emphasizing the benefits of the MMR vaccine for children appears to increase parents’ likelihood of vaccinating their child with it, according to a recent study.
But highlighting the societal benefits of giving their child the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine neither increased nor decreased their willingness to get their child the vaccine, Kristin Hendrix, Ph.D., of Indiana University in Indianapolis, and her colleagues reported online Aug. 18 (Pediatrics 2014;134:e675-e683).
In May 2012, the researchers provided one of four messages about the MMR vaccine to 802 parents of children less than 12 months of age. In a national online survey with the messages, the researchers asked the parents how likely they were, on a scale of 0 to 100 (extremely likely), to vaccinate their child with the MMR vaccine. Each message appeared online for 15 seconds, during which the parent could not navigate away.
Among the parents, 13% said they had ever refused a vaccine for their infant, 42% reported that all their children had received all the recommended vaccines, and 52% had no other children besides their infant. These parents were divided evenly across the four message groups.
One message was the Vaccine Information Statement (VIS) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The second was the VIS with additional information emphasizing the benefits of the MMR for their child, as follows: "The MMR vaccine protects your child from getting the diseases measles, mumps, or rubella or the complications caused by these diseases. After receiving this vaccine, your child will not miss school or activities due to these illnesses and will be able to play with friends during an outbreak."
The third message was the VIS and information emphasizing how society benefits from the MMR vaccine. It stated: "The MMR vaccine prevents your child from spreading measles, mumps, or rubella to those who cannot get the shot," and then listed those who could not get the shot. The fourth message emphasized both the child’s and society’s benefit, along with the VIS.
Parents rated the VIS-only message with an average of 86.3 on the likelihood-of-vaccinating scale. The VIS and society-only message did not increase parents’ likelihood of vaccinating (average, 86.4; P = .97), but the additional materials emphasizing the benefits to their child or to their child and society did (91.6 and 90.8; P = .01 and .03, respectively).
The research was supported by the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute and the National Institutes of Health. The authors reported no disclosures.