H1N1 Influenza Pandemic in Italy Revisited: Has the Willingness to Get Vaccinated Suffered in the Long Run?

Ludolph, Ramona; Nobile, Marta; Hartung, Uwe; Castaldi, Silvana; Schulz, Peter J.

In sum, the findings of this study do not point to long-term secondary effects of the institutional handling of the H1N1 pandemic on people's willingness to get vaccinated when the next pandemic hits. Considering the globally low vaccination rates during the H1N1 pandemic in general and in this sample specifically, the result that two in five participants would be willing to quickly seek vaccination in case of a novel influenza pandemic is rather surprising. To interpret these numbers one must take into account, however, that the H1N1 vaccine was only available by fall 2009 and thus some time after it had turned out that earlier assumptions about the mortality of an H1N1 infection had been wrong. 7 Consequently, the decision to get vaccinated against H1N1 had to be made at a time when the pandemic was no longer considered a severe threat. The decision to get vaccinated in future was best predicted by past vaccination behaviour. People who normally get flu shots are five times more likely to seek immunization soon after news of a novel influenza pandemic would spread than their counterparts who avoided the seasonal flu shots. This result is in line with prior research. 15 The perception that a H1N1 infection was life-threatening leads also to a higher acceptability of vaccination during a hypothetic pandemic. People who feared for their lives in case of infection with H1N1 are four times more willing to seek vaccination in case of a novel pandemic than people who were not afraid. Assessment of previous institutional performance did not have any influence. More than two years after the pandemic the criticism of the institutional behaviour in managing the pandemic and the ongoing media debates about vaccine safety and usefulness might not be very salient to the people any more. 7, 9 It might also be possible that people do not take those rather abstract factors too much in consideration when making a decision about their own health. They might rather stick to their usual behaviour and listen to advice or experience from their close environment such as family, friends and one's own general practitioner.