Abstract

Background: The immunization rate is one of the best public health outcomes; parental immunization decision is essential to improve the speed of immunization. This study aims to identify and analyze the perception of married couples about the importance of vaccination and the source of information about vaccines by assessing the barriers and obstacles that prevent children from receiving the vaccines.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study on married couples in the Western region, Saudi Arabia, conducted from 22 October 2020 to 22 April 2021. A simple randomized sampling of 1,500 participants through an online electronic survey was performed. The following data were obtained: demographic (age, gender, residency, etc.), child vaccination status and barriers, perception and acceptance of vaccination, and source of information.
Results: It was reported by 80.5% of the participants that their child received the compulsory vaccination up to their age, whereas 3.9% (n = 16) participants have not received any vaccine. Participants who have more than two or more children at home have received all vaccines up to their children’s age (81.24%) compared to those who have only one child (79%). When we assessed the reasons behind missing the compulsory vaccines, it has found that the most common single reason was long waiting time (16.25%) followed by forgetting the day of immunization.
Conclusion: Depending on the data, the system needs to improve to decrease the waiting time and remind the parents about vaccination day. Also, educating parents with one child about compulsory vaccination is essential.

Key words: Barriers, childhood, vaccination, western region, Saudi Arabia.