Unvaccinated kids can face stigma, report finds

Harsher judgment than their parents

VANCOUVER • Children who aren’t vaccinated face harsher judgment than the parents responsible for the lack of immunization, says a study examining attitudes concerning a contentious public health issue for which Canada lacks a national strategy.

Other children may not want to sit next to unvaccinated students at school, work on projects with them or go on a play dates at their homes, said Prof. Richard Carpiano, lead study author and a sociologist at the University of British Columbia.

Children of so-called antivaxxers deal with more stigma regardless of the reasons for their parents’ decision, Carpiano said of the study that focused on mothers because they typically make a family’s health decisions.

Some parents don’t want their children vaccinated based on long-debunked fears that vaccines cause autism, mercury poisoning or auto-immune disorders.

“Child vaccination is a complex problem that poses significant health consequences for the child and the community,” said the study published this month in the journal Social Science and Medicine.

It said public health efforts to address the issue require an understanding of parents’ motives and how the public interprets them because of concerns about the high risk of unvaccinated or undervaccinated children spreading such infectious diseases as measles, mumps and whooping cough.

The study was based on data collected from a July, 2015, online survey of 1,469 U.S. respondents, though Carpiano said the results are just as applicable in Canada.

Respondents were randomly assigned to read one of four scenarios. They included a mother who refused to vaccinate her child, another who delayed immunization over safety concerns, while a third mother’s job and family demands left no time for medical appointments, and a fourth, who represented a control group, ensured her child received the recommended vaccinations.

“People may be more likely to blame and express anger toward parents who intentionally choose to refuse or delay vaccinations for their children, but more likely to express sympathy for a parent who encounters barriers to accessing vaccinations,” sometimes due to lack of medical services in their area, the study says, adding children face discrimination regardless of the reasons they were not vaccinated.

Survey respondents with the strongest reactions were more likely to support such policies as parents being notified about vaccination rates at their child’s school or students being banned from school until they’re up to date with immunizations, Carpiano said.