• Selda Yörük, Hülya Türkmen, Aysegul Durgut, and Meliz Erbek.
• Balıkesir University, School of Health, Department of Midwifery, Cagis Campus , Balikesir, Turkey.
• Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2020 Dec 1; 16 (12): 3155-3162.

AimThis study aims to determine the causes of vaccine mistrust among family healthcare professionals (FHP) in the unit where they serve and vaccine hesitancy of families.MethodThe study group consisted of 682 FHPs working in a primary health care institution. The data collection tools of the study included a sociodemographic data form and a vaccine hesitancy data form. Pearson's chi-square analysis and logistic regression analysis were performed to analyze the data.FindingsTo the question of "Do you trust the active ingredient in the vaccines?", only 2.1% of FHPs responded "I do not trust" and 18.9% answered "I am indecisive". 70.7% of FHPs said that at least one vaccine hesitant family was in the unit where they served. The most important reasons stated by FHPs on behalf of such families were vaccine mistrust (73.2%), the belief that they may be harmful for the child (58.7%), and the belief that vaccines cause autism (55.6%). In the univariate analysis, vaccine mistrust was significantly higher in FHPs who were measles-hesitant and responded "The decision to get vaccinated or not should belong to the family voluntarily". From logistic regression analysis, vaccine mistrust in FHPs increased 2.8-fold for those who did not think vaccination should be compulsory, 2.7-fold for those who did not think that vaccination refusal should be legally enforced, and 1.61-fold for those under age 35 years.ConclusionIt was observed that FHPs had high sensitivity and positive attitudes toward vaccination in general.

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