Copyright
©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Vaccinations against respiratory infections in Arabian Gulf countries: Barriers and motivators
Amani S Alqahtani, Daniah M Bondagji, Abdullah A Alshehari, Mada H Basyouni, Tariq M Alhawassi, Nasser F BinDhim, Harunor Rashid
Amani S Alqahtani, Daniah M Bondagji, School of Public Health, the University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia
Amani S Alqahtani, Harunor Rashid, National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance of Vaccine Preventable Diseases (NCIRS), the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, and the Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, Sydney Medical School, the University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2145, Australia
Daniah M Bondagji, Ministry of Health, Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia
Abdullah A Alshehari, Ministry of Health, Assir, Abha 61411, Saudi Arabia
Mada H Basyouni, Investigational Drugs and Research Unit, King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh 11472, Saudi Arabia
Tariq M Alhawassi, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Tariq M Alhawassi, Medication Safety Research Chair, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Nasser F BinDhim, Saudi Food and Drug Authority, Riyadh 3292, Saudi Arabia
Author contributions: Alqahtani AS designed the study, analysed data and drafted the manuscript; Bondagji DM conducted literature review and drafted the manuscript; Alshehari AA contributed to literature review and data interpretation; BinDhim NF designed the Gulf Indicators (GI) smartphone app, supervised data collection, collation and analysis; Rashid H supervised data analysis and edited all versions of the manuscript; Basyouni MH and Alhawassi TM collected data and contributed to data interpretation; all authors have made substantial contribution to the manuscript.
Supported by Medication Safety Research Chair, Deanship of Research Chairs, King Saud University.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee at King Saud University (Ethics Ref No: 4/2016), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Informed consent statement: All participants in our study provided informed consent before enrolment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Dr. Harunor Rashid has received fees from Pfizer and Novartis for consulting or serving on an advisory board. The other authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, original data, and statistical code of manuscript are available from the corresponding author at amani.alqahtani@health.nsw.gov.au.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Amani S Alqahtani, PhD, Fellow, National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance of Vaccine Preventable Diseases (NCIRS), the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, and the Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, Sydney Medical School, the University of Sydney, Hawkesbury Road and Hainsworth Street, Locked Bag 4001, Sydney, New South Wales 2145, Australia. amani.alqahtani@health.nsw.gov.au
Telephone: +61-2984-51489
Received: February 3, 2017
Peer-review started: February 7, 2017
First decision: March 7, 2017
Revised: April 1, 2017
Accepted: May 12, 2017
Article in press: May 13, 2017
Published online: June 16, 2017
AIM
To study the uptake, barriers and motivators of influenza, pneumococcal, meningococcal and pertussis vaccines among members of public in Arabian Gulf countries.
METHODS
A cross-sectional survey among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries’ residents. Data collected electronically through a smartphone app. The survey variables aimed to investigate the respondents’ awareness about vaccines against influenza, pneumococcal, meningococcal and pertussis infections. Collected data concerning the respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics, their perception toward vaccine uptake and the factors that motivate or demotivate them from taking influenza vaccine. The data were analysed statistically using the SPSS v.23.0. Differences in the characteristics of users from different countries were quantified through bivariate analysis. Other important variables and controlling factors were studied using logistic regression.
RESULTS
A total of 1812 respondents participated in the study. Their mean age was 27 years, 82% were male and 24% had ≥ 1 chronic diseases. The overall uptake of influenza vaccine was 17% (21% among “at risk” people) and ranged from 15% in Saudi Arabia to 24% in Qatar. Doctor’s advice (23%) and a perception of having low body immunity (21%) were the main cited reasons for being vaccinated, whereas unawareness about the vaccine (43%) was the main barrier. The overall uptake of pneumococcal vaccine in the preceding three years was 22% (25% among “at risk” individuals) and ranged from 0% in Bahrain to 79% in Kuwait. The overall uptake of pertussis vaccine was 16% (31% among “vulnerable” people), and ranged from 7% in Saudi Arabia to 75% in Oman. The overall uptake of meningococcal vaccine was 20% (29% among the “at risk” people) and ranged from 3% in Oman to 50% in Bahrain.
CONCLUSION
The vaccination uptake across GCC countries is suboptimal and varies widely across the countries. Further research is needed to unearth the reasons and formulate action plan.
Core tip: Like many other parts of the world, the uptake of the adult vaccinations against respiratory infections in Arabian Gulf countries remains unknown. This area hosts the world’s largest annual mass gathering (Hajj pilgrimage) which increases the risk of global dissemination of infectious diseases, particularly, respiratory infections. The coverage rate of the vaccinations against respiratory infections among the public in gulf cooperation council countries was low when compared to that in developed countries. Physicians could play a significant role in enhancing vaccine uptake, and their advice was the principal motivator among our participants.
