Factors influencing a communitywide campaign to administer hepatitis A vaccine to men who have sex with men

Objectives. A hepatitis A outbreak among men who have sex with men (MSM) le d to a publicly funded vaccination campaign. We evaluated the MSM community 's response. Methods. A cohort of MSM from 5 community sites was surveyed. Results. Thirty-four (19%) of 178 potential vaccine candidates received the vaccine during the campaign. We found a linear relation between the number of exposures to campaign information and the likelihood of vaccination (P< .001). Vaccination was independently associated with awareness of the outbr eak and the vaccine, having had sexual relations with men for 12 years or l onger, having recently consulted a physician, and routinely reading a local gay newspaper. Conclusions. The difficult task of vaccinating MSM can be aided by repetiti ve promotional messages, especially via the gay media.