• Marnix Mus, Sanne Kreijkamp-Kaspers, Treasure McGuire, Laura Deckx, and Mieke van Driel.
• Faculty of Medicine, Erasmus Universiteit, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
• Aust N Z J Public Health. 2017 Feb 1; 41 (1): 74-79.

ObjectivesImmunisation is crucial to population health. This study aimed to identify the information needs and concerns of health consumers regarding childhood vaccination.MethodsWe analysed 1,342 calls concerning childhood vaccination to an Australian pharmacist-operated medicines call centre (MCC). Data were available from September 2002 until June 2010. We identified key themes and compared these for callers from high and low immunisation coverage areas.ResultsMost calls related to safety concerns (60.4%), with many questions about vaccine constituents (31.6%). In low immunisation areas, a higher level of concern persisted about vaccine preservatives (mercury and thiomersal) despite their removal from vaccines in 2000. Of specific vaccines, the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine raised most questions (29.9%). Common motivations to call the MCC were 'inadequate information' (54%), 'second opinion' (21%) 'conflicting information' (9%) and 'worrying symptom' (6%).Conclusion And ImplicationsThe consistent number of vaccine-related calls, particularly about safety, demonstrates an information gap that can contribute to vaccination hesitancy. Health professionals need to know their local immunisation rate and associated carer concerns, to proactively address these information-related barriers to vaccination.© 2016 The Authors.

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