Аннтотация

© 2018, Dynasty Publishing House. All rights reserved. Objective: to assess parents’ attitude toward vaccines and the degree of their awareness about vaccination using a specially designed questionnaire. Materials and methods. We conducted an anonymous survey of 360 parents who stayed in a hospital to take care of their children. The questionnaire included 34 questions on parents' awareness about vaccination and their general attitude toward vaccines. Results. Our survey demonstrated that 282 children were partly or fully vaccinated, whereas 78 children were not vaccinated. A total of 79% of parents believe that vaccination is the most effective method of preventing infectious diseases. The majority of parents (80%) understand that vaccinated children are less likely to develop severe illness than those who have not been vaccinated. Almost two-thirds of parents (60%) responded that they would like to expand their knowledge on immunization and believe that measures taken to inform people about vaccines are insufficient. Results. Our findings suggest that the majority of parents have a generally positive attitude toward vaccination. However, our respondents demonstrated lack of awareness about vaccines. Therefore, educational events should be planned to raise awareness about vaccination among parents.