Objective: to assess Chinese children's guardians' intentions and attitudes toward accepting a pertussis cocooning vaccination and its determinants.
Methods: a self-administered questionnaire was designed based on a theoretical framework that originated mainly from the reasoned action approach. Associations between questionnaire variables and outcomes were assessed using univariate and multivariate analyses with odds ratios (OR), regression coefficients (β), and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
Results: among 762 eligible participants, most (80.71%) reported a positive intention to accept a pertussis cocooning vaccination. The guardians' positive intention was related to the children's pertussis vaccination experience (OR = 2.483, 95% CI: 1.340-4.600). Guardians who had a positive attitude towards pertussis vaccination (OR = 1.554, 95% CI: 1.053-2.296), higher subjective norms (OR = 1.960, 95% CI: 1.371-2.802) and better perceived behavioral control (OR = 7.482, 95% CI: 4.829-11.591) stated a higher intention to receive a pertussis cocooning vaccination. The mean attitude score was 3.88 ± 0.863. Greater risk perception about pertussis (β = 0.390, 95% CI: 0.298-0.483), stronger obligation from moral norms (β = 0.355, 95% CI: 0.279-0.430), and good knowledge (β = 0.108, 95% CI: 0.070-0.146) were significantly related to positive attitude toward pertussis cocooning vaccination among guardians.
Conclusions: Chinese children's guardians held positive intentions and attitudes toward accepting a pertussis cocooning vaccination. The current findings described the determinants of such intention and attitude and provided knowledge based on improving guardians' intentions for policymakers if cocooning vaccinations or related immunization strategies are implemented in China in the future.
Keywords: intention; pertussis; pertussis cocooning vaccination; vaccination.