Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
2nd International Eurasian Congress of Social Pediatrics, Türkiye, 26 - 29 Kasım 2020
Objective: Missed opportunities for vaccination are common in childhood. They can be determined
whenever a child visits a health facility and if the child is eligible for vaccination vaccines should be
commenced immediately. The aim of this study was to determine the causes of missed opportunities
for vaccination and the solutions suggested by the pediatricians working in the field of Social Pediatrics.
Method: In this cross-sectional study 75 pediatricians working in the field of social pediatrics in Turkey
were reached via e-mail and were asked to complete a questionnaire, between October and December
2020. The questionnaire included questions on whether the participants encountered missed opportunities
for vaccination, the most common reasons that they observed and their suggestions for the
prevention of missed opportunities. SPSS for Windows 7.0 was used for statistical analysis in this study.
Results: The questionnaire was answered by 68 pediatricians (90.7%) in this study. Of the participants
72.1% (n = 49) reported that they encountered missed opportunities for vaccination. The presence of
chronic illness in the child (42.9%), refugee status (32.7%), misunderstood contraindications (22.4%),
vaccine hesitancy (22.4%) and neglect of the family (20.4%) were cited as the most common reasons
leading to the missed opportunities. Most of the participants (85.7%) stated that it is very important
to provide correct information about vaccines to the family as a suggestion in order to avoid missed
opportunities for vaccination.
Conclusion: Children must be evaluated in terms of vaccination status at every visit. When a missed
opportunity for vaccination is detected, vaccination should be started as soon as possible if the child is
eligible for vaccination by communicating with the family.
Keywords: Missed opportunities, vaccination, Social Pediatrics