Parents’ Source of Vaccine Information and Impact on Vaccine Attitudes, Beliefs, and Nonmedical Exemptions
Table 1
Perceptions of vaccine information sources among parents who did or did not use the Internet for vaccine information.
Information source
Internet used as a source of vaccine information
Unadjusted OR (95% CI)
Adjusted OR† (95% CI)
Yes ()*
No ()*
Good or excellent source (%)‡
Good or excellent source (%)‡
Printed materials from health-care provider (Vaccine Information Statements)
141 (58.0%)
785 (80.9%)
0.33 (0.24–0.44)
0.49 (0.35–0.69)
Professional organizations, such as doctors/nurses’ associations
130 (60.5%)
691 (80.0%)
0.38 (0.28–0.53)
0.56 (0.39–0.80)
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Immunization Program
154 (68.4%)
757 (85.0%)
0.38 (0.27–0.54)
0.57 (0.39–0.83)
Health-care provider’s advice
170 (68.8%)
834 (85.1%)
0.39 (0.28–0.53)
0.59 (0.42–0.85)
Local or state health departments
140 (59.6%)
729 (78.0%)
0.42 (0.31–0.56)
0.60 (0.43–0.84)
Religious leaders and organizations
13 (6.5%)
65 (8.0%)
0.79 (0.43–1.47)
0.81 (0.43–1.52)
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
105 (50.2%)
526 (61.6%)
0.63 (0.46–0.85)
0.83 (0.60–1.15)
Pharmacists
107 (48.9%)
504 (56.8%)
0.73 (0.54–0.98)
0.97 (0.71–1.33)
Vaccine companies
54 (23.2%)
251 (28.8%)
0.75 (0.53–1.05)
0.98 (0.69–1.40)
Parents/Friends
82 (34.0%)
300 (32.3%)
1.08 (0.80–1.46)
1.03 (0.76–1.41)
Media (TV, radio, newspapers, books, magazines)
77 (32.6%)
273 (29.6%)
1.15 (0.85–1.57)
1.18 (0.86–1.62)
National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine (IOM)
101 (66.0%)
432 (64.5%)
1.07 (0.74–1.55)
1.22 (0.83–1.80)
Dissatisfied Parents Together (DPT)
46 (30.3%)
127 (19.7%)
1.77 (1.19–2.64)
1.22 (0.79–1.87)
Alternative health care providers, such as chiropractors or acupuncturists
104 (50.0%)
271 (33.5%)
1.98 (1.46–2.70)
1.55 (1.12–2.14)
National Vaccine Information Center
152 (78.0%)
600 (76.1%)
1.12 (0.76–1.61)
1.69 (1.12–2.55)
Internet
134 (56.3%)
291 (35.2%)
2.37 (1.77–3.18)
2.45 (1.80–3.32)
*Not all respondents in each Internet use group completed each Likert scale for their perceptions of the listed information sources. and % values presented are relative the non-missing responses for each scale. †Adjusted for presence of any vaccine exemption. ‡Counts presented represent the count of non-missing data, and the corresponding percentage is the percent of respondents in each Internet usage group with non-missing data that indicated that a given information source was a “Good or excellent source”. Missing data were not consistent over information source. Odds ratios are calculated based on non-missing results through unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression.
