Vaccinations against respiratory infections in Arabian Gulf countries: Barriers and motivators

Alqahtani, Amani S; Bondagji, Daniah M; Alshehari, Abdullah A; Basyouni, Mada H; Alhawassi, Tariq M; BinDhim, Nasser F; Rashid, Harunor

Previously, many adult vaccination campaigns have been conducted in GCC countries particularly for influenza, pneumococcal and meningococcal vaccines but there are no published studies assessing the effectiveness of these campaigns, except for the meningococcal vaccination campaign in 1992 that followed a meningococcal out break in Makkah which was ultimately brought under control [62] . This study is susceptible to recall bias as data were collected through a selfreported survey. Furthermore, the use of smartphone applications is less common in elderly people who represent an important part of the "at risk" population. This impacts the generalizability of the result. Despite these limitations, this is the first study measuring the uptake rate of seasonal influenza, pneumococcal, meningococcal and pertussis vaccines among members of public in the GCC countries. Another strength is that the application used in our study was tested and validated previously in more than one setting including in GCC countries and among travellers to GCC countries (e.g., Hajj pilgrims) [3234, 63] . Conversely this study does not distinguish native citizens from expatriates who may be different in having access to preventive health care.