Preferences of US adolescents and parents for vaccination against invasive meningococcal disease

Abstract

Background: Percentage uptake of some meningococcal vaccines is low in the US. Understanding what drives vaccination preferences may help to increase vaccination rates.

Objectives: To determine how attributes of meningococcal vaccines and the availability of a pentavalent (MenABCWY) vaccine profile drive adolescents' and young people's (AYP's) willingness to be vaccinated and parents' and legal guardians' (PLG') willingness for their child to be vaccinated (WTV). To also explore how preferences for meningococcal vaccines vary by participant characteristics.

Methods: Vaccine preferences were elicited in a discrete choice experiment (DCE) with AYP aged 16-23 years and PLG of adolescents aged 11-17 years. Participants chose between two hypothetical vaccine profiles that differed in level of protection, dosing, and risks of mild-to-moderate and severe side effects, and a no vaccination profile. Main outcome measures were relative attribute importance (RAI) and WTV. RAI measured the maximum contribution of an attribute to vaccination choice relative to other attributes. WTV compared predicted choice probabilities for the three vaccine profiles.

Results: 407 AYP and 394 PLG participated (50.9% male, 78.4% White/Caucasian). Irrespective of vaccine attributes, 59.5% always opted into vaccination and 3.6% always opted out of vaccination. The most important attributes were level of protection (RAI: 33.7%) and risk of mild-to-moderate side effects (RAI: 32.3%). Dosing was more important to PLG (RAI: 5.9%) than AYP (RAI: 2.0%; p < .01). Adding a pentavalent vaccine alternative increased WTV by 3.7 percentage points (PP) for PLG, 2.4 PP for AYP, 16.4 PP for vaccine-hesitant participants, 13.4 PP for participants without health insurance, and 9.6 PP for adults.

Conclusion: Level of protection and risk of mild-to-moderate side effects were the most important vaccine attributes. Adding a pentavalent vaccine alternative increased WTV particularly among adults, individuals who were vaccine-hesitant, and individuals without health insurance.

Keywords: Adolescence; Invasive meningococcal disease; Meningitis; Preference; Vaccine.