Objective: To understand physician preferences for various attributes of pediatric combination vaccines.
Methods: An online survey was completed by 400 US physicians (pediatricians and family physicians) who routinely administer vaccines to infants aged 1-12 months in outpatient settings. Respondents completed a discrete choice experiment (DCE) by selecting their preferred options from different hypothetical vaccine profiles with systematic variation in the levels of five attributes: vaccine presentation, number of injections administered at a single visit, completion rates, timeliness rates (within 30 days of recommended age), and years of availability for routine use, assuming similar cost, safety, and efficacy. Odds ratios and relative attribute importance scores were estimated using a random parameters logit model.
Results: Physicians (mean age 50.4 years, 52.5% women) preferred combination vaccines that reduced the number of injections administered at a single visit, facilitated higher completion and timeliness rates for the primary DTaP series, were available as a pre-filled syringe rather than a vial needing reconstitution and had been available for routine use for more than 1 year. All odds ratios were statistically significant. Physicians were twice as likely to prefer administering three injections in a single visit instead of four. The most important attribute was the number of injections administered at a single visit (relative importance 38%), followed by timeliness, completion rates, and vaccine presentation; years a vaccine has been available was the least important attribute.
Conclusion: US physicians prefer pediatric combination vaccines that enable fewer injections to be administered at a single visit, facilitate higher completion and timeliness rates, are offered as a pre-filled syringe, and have been available for routine use for more than 1 year. The most important attribute of pediatric combination vaccines was a reduction in the number of injections administered at a single visit.
Keywords: Pediatric vaccines; combination vaccines; decision making; discrete choice experiment (DCE); family physicians; pediatricians; preference.