Willingness to receive a hypothetical avian influenza vaccine among US military personnel in mid-deployment.
Publication Status: Published
Sponsoring Organization: Defense Health Agency (formerly TRICARE Management Activity)
Sponsoring Office: Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences
Congressionally Mandated: No
Funding Source: Agency, office or organization under authority of the Sec Def (not affiliated to Army, Navy, or Air Force)
Release Date/Publication: December 01, 2013
Principle Investigator Status: Government
Primary DoD Data Source: Other Survey
Secondary DoD Data Source:
Abstract
Though no avian influenza vaccine currently exists, development efforts have increased. Given recent reports of suboptimal vaccination rates among US military personnel, we sought to assess factors associated with a willingness to receive a hypothetical avian influenza vaccine. A self-administered questionnaire was completed by US military personnel during mid-deployment to Iraq, Afghanistan, and surrounding regions. Respondents were predominately male (86.2%), Army (72.1%), and enlisted (86.3%) with a mean age of 29.6 y. The majority (77.1%) agreed to receive an avian influenza vaccine if available. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) identified two factors, vaccine importance and disease risk, that best described the individual perceptions and both were associated with an increased willingness to receive the hypothetical vaccine (OR: 8.2 and 1.6, respectively). Importantly, after controlling for these factors differences in the willingness to receive this hypothetical vaccine were observed across gender and branch of service. These results indicated that targeted education on vaccine safety and efficacy as well as disease risk may modify vaccination patterns in this population.
Citation:
Porter CK, Fitamaurice G, Tribble DR, Armstrong AW, Mostafa M, Riddle MS. Willingness to receive a hypothetical avian influenza vaccine among US military personnel in mid-deployment. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2013 Dec;9(12):2613-7.