Attitudes towards vaccination and knowledge about antibiotics: Analysis of Wellcome Monitor survey data

Abstract

Vaccine hesitancy and antimicrobial resistance are biomedically connected public health challenges, but to date minimal research has examined social connections between the UK public's attitudes towards vaccination and attitudes towards antibiotic use. Understanding the extent to which these issues are attitudinally parallel would be valuable for implementing and evaluating public health interventions. Using data from the Wellcome Trust Monitor Wave 4 this study examined social associations between these two areas. An ordinal logistic regression model predicting knowledge level about antibiotics was fitted using 2,654 observations, controlling for known outcome covariates, with perceptions of the risk of side-effects from vaccination and of the efficacy of vaccination as a preventative intervention as independent variables. Compared to the modal response category of 'Fairly low', respondents who rated the risk of serious side-effects from vaccination as 'Very high' (OR = 2.87, 95% CI = 1.71-4.89) or 'Fairly high' (OR = 1.51, 95% CI = 1.21-1.88) were more likely to have provided incorrect responses to questions about the utility of antibiotics for treating different types of infection. Conversely, respondents who felt there was 'No risk at all' (OR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.50-0.95) were less likely to have provided incorrect responses about the utility of antibiotics. Compared to the modal category of 'Almost always effective', only respondents who felt that vaccines were 'Sometimes effective' (OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.05-1.51) or 'Almost never or never effective' (OR = 2.32, CI = 1.32-4.19) were more likely provide incorrect responses regarding antibiotics' utility. Negative perceptions of vaccination and misperceptions about the role of antibiotics for treating infections are associated with one other within the general UK public. Qualitative research is needed to understand the nature of this association and identify areas of public understanding that are not exclusive to specific health interventions but that may be targeted to improve responsiveness to vaccine- and antibiotic-related public health interventions.