Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Concerning Maternal Immunization Among Pregnant/Postpartum Women and Health Care Professionals in Peru

Adriana Guzman-Holst; Veronica Petrozzi; Claudia Velez; Vinay Gupta; Theresa J Ochoa; Patricia Juliao

doi:10.1007/s40121-023-00788-z

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Concerning Maternal Immunization Among Pregnant/Postpartum Women and Health Care Professionals in Peru

Infect Dis Ther. 2023 Apr;12(4):1151-1173. doi: 10.1007/s40121-023-00788-z. Epub 2023 Mar 25.

Authors

Adriana Guzman-Holst¹, Veronica Petrozzi², Claudia Velez³, Vinay Gupta⁴, Theresa J Ochoa⁵, Patricia Juliao⁶

Affiliations

¹ GSK, Building WN23, Avenue Fleming 20, 1300, Wavre, Belgium. adriana.x.guzman@gsk.com.
² GSK, Lima, Peru.
³ JSS Medical Research Latam, Bogotá, Colombia.
⁴ JSS Medical Research Asia Pacific Private Limited, Faridabad, India.
⁵ Instituto de Medicina Tropical Alexander von Humboldt, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru.
⁶ GSK, Rockville, USA.

Abstract

Introduction: For pregnant women, vaccination with inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV) and tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis vaccine (Tdap) is recommended. In Peru, uptake is nonetheless low. A study was conducted to identify factors affecting maternal vaccination coverage. The study's primary objectives were to describe the knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding maternal immunization among pregnant/postpartum women and health care professionals (HCPs). The secondary objective was to determine the vaccination coverage and the impact of Ministry of Health (MOH) recommendations.

Methods: An observational multicenter, cross-sectional survey study was conducted from February 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021 in five cities in Peru. Two surveys were conducted to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices concerning maternal immunization: one among pregnant/postpartum women and one among HCPs.

Results: Participants were 668 pregnant/postpartum women with a mean age of 29.6 years and 219 HCPs-mostly midwives (46.6%) and obstetricians/gynecologists (44.7%). Of the pregnant/postpartum women, 66.9% knew that, in general, vaccinations are given for prevention, and 98.5% believed vaccines are important. Nonetheless, 69.6% of pregnant/postpartum women had poor or moderate knowledge of maternal vaccination. Disease knowledge of influenza (89.1%) and tetanus (87.0%) was high, while knowledge of pertussis (37.7%) was low. Women agreed/strongly agreed that they would get vaccinated with Tdap if a doctor (96.3%), midwife (88.9%), or nurse (72.0%) recommended it. Of the HCPs, 81.3% routinely recommended Tdap vaccination for pregnant women.

Conclusions: To enhance vaccine acceptance in pregnant women in Peru, we must improve knowledge of the diseases, MOH recommendations, and benefits of the offered vaccinations. HCPs could provide this vaccination knowledge and information along with their vaccination recommendation as the pregnant/postpartum women indicated they would take the vaccines if recommended by their HCPs. Our findings are important for the successful implementation of maternal immunization programs in Peru.

Keywords: Coverage; Influenza; Knowledge; Maternal immunization; Pertussis; Peru; Tetanus.