School absenteeism, parental work loss, and acceptance of childhood influenza vaccination

Background: influenza causes school absenteeism and may cause parents to mi ss work to care for sick children. However, it is not known whether these f actors influence parental acceptance of childhood vaccination. Methods: A s urvey was mailed to parents of 1805 children attending 3 elementary schools . It included questions about school absenteeism and employment status for adults who stayed home to care for an ill child. Parents were asked if they would consider vaccinating their child against a common wintertime respira tory virus. Results: Of the 972 surveys returned (54% return rate), 954 cou ld be analyzed. Only 13% of respondents stated that they would not consider vaccination for their child. Sixty-nine percent of children had been absen t from school because of a nonasthma respiratory illness, with an average o f 2.54 days missed per child. Among respondents whose child had missed any school, 33% would definitely consider vaccination compared with 24% of resp ondents whose child had not missed school (P < 0.01). As children missed mo re school days, vaccine acceptance increased. In 53% of families, an adult had to miss work to care for the ill child. Vaccine acceptance was higher i f an adult caretaker had to lose time from work because of a child's illnes s (35% versus 25% for non-working caretakers, P < 0.01). Conclusion: Vaccin e acceptance was closely linked with the amount of absenteeism caused by re spiratory illness in the previous year. Parents who had to miss work to car e for an ill child were more accepting of the vaccine than were other paren ts.