Objectives: Seasonal influenza vaccine coverage remains low in China due to possible influenza vaccine hesitancy (IVH) and practical issues. We sought to investigate IVH and its determinants among children's guardians and the elderly for a better understanding of the situation and for future intervention.
Methods: We performed two cross-sectional studies to identify the profiles and determinants of IVH using stratified cluster random sampling in an eastern China province in 2019.
Results: Of the 1564 guardians and 522 elders, 43.2% (95%CI: 40.4-46.0%) of guardians and 33.5% of elders (95%CI: 29.5-37.6%) had IVH. 'From rural area' (odds ratio: 1.36), 'don't know government recommendation for flu vaccination' (1.39), 'don't know flu vaccine is vaccinated annually' (1.93), and 'family members (0.22), friends and neighbors had positive attitude toward flu vaccine' (0.58) were related factors of the guardians' IVH. 'Aged 70-79 years' (0.46), 'had flu before' (0.35) and 'once had been vaccinated' (0.42) were related to the elderly's IVH.
Conclusion: Poor awareness of influenza and vaccination, relatives' negative/positive attitude, lack of government recommendations, anxiety about vaccine quality, and practical issues such as short supply are related to IVH in China. Precision education aimed at hesitancy in wider groups is anticipated to increase vaccine confidence and coverage in influenza-vulnerable groups.
Keywords: Vaccine hesitancy; awareness; characteristics; determinants; influenza; scale; vaccine demand.