Ensuring fathers get information about the importance of vaccinations could be key to boosting childhood immunisation rates, according to new research.
A child getting a measles immunisation. Photo: 123rf.com
Using information from the Growing Up in New Zealand study, the research - published in the journal Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics - found only a third of fathers got vaccination information before the birth of their children.
Of those, 65 percent received material that encouraged vaccination. About 20 percent got conflicting information about vaccination and 16 percent got information discouraging it.
The source and type of information fathers received was important and had a bearing on the likelihood of a child getting timely vaccinations, the research found.
University of Auckland Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences lecturer Catherine Gilchrist said fathers can play a strong role in influencing a mothers' health decisions during pregnancy.
"We also know that educational interventions which target fathers can improve infant outcomes and influence the mother's choices so it's important that we understand the sort of information fathers are receiving about vaccination and what their responses are," she said.
Information provided by family, friends and the media was more likely to be discouraging of vaccination than information provided by healthcare sources.
The infants of fathers who received conflicting or discouraging information about vaccination were less likely to have all their vaccinations on time, Dr Gilchrist said.
Further to that, the infants of Māori fathers were less likely to receive all of their vaccinations on time, compared with the infants of Pākehā fathers, she said.
Including both parents in conversations with health providers during pregnancy could improve immunisation uptake, Dr Gilchrist said.
"Antenatal appointments provide an ideal opportunity for both parents to receive accurate vaccination information from a trustworthy source. Midwives and Lead Maternity Carers should consider engaging fathers during perinatal care as an important part of their role."
More work could also be done to engage with Māori fathers to increase vaccination rates for Māori infants, Dr Gilchrist said.
In 2019, only 63 percent of Māori infants were fully vaccinated at six months compared with 84 percent of Pākehā infants, 76 percent of Pacific infants, and 91 percent of Asian infants.
"The wider whānau is often important in immunisation decisions for Māori, so including fathers and the whānau in antenatal care to provide accurate vaccination information could help to address concerns and potentially improve infant vaccination uptake," Dr Gilchrist said.