Caregivers’ Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) to Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccines (PCV) for Children in Hanoi, Vietnam

Abstract

Due to a high burden of disease of pneumonia in Vietnam, the country not including the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) in its National Expanded Programme of Immunization (EPI), and the scarce data on PCV vaccine coverage or caregivers’ behavior within the country, it is imperative to assess the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) of the caregivers’ community, to further explore ways to increase PCV uptake. The purpose of this study is to understand the KAP of caregivers towards PCV inoculation for children in Hanoi, VietnamMethodology: 338 respondents fulfilled the Qualtrics questionnaire and 26 respondents (16 caregivers and 10 health workers) were interviewed in Hanoi, Vietnam, using semi-structured interviews in June-December 2023. Materials and data were transcribed between Vietnamese and English, and analyzed according to selected themes. Discussion/Conclusions: Although the findings suggest that caregivers in Hanoi have limited knowledge on PCV, support for attitude and practice on accepting PCV exists, especially from caregivers with high socio-economic status. This study wished to contribute to a better understanding of the KAP factors regarding childhood vaccines, which may support decision-making about vaccine policies, and be utilized for creating suitable vaccine promotion materials for child caregivers.