Awareness, accessibility, and compliance on immunization of mothers with children 0-6 years old during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

One of the most effective and safe health intervention for preventing communicable and chronic diseases during childhood is vaccination, according to the Department of Health, which stated that such intervention can protect children and prevent 1.4 million of the 1.4 million child deaths in 2002. In 2021. There was a decrease in the vaccination coverage in Iloilo City with an immunity gap of 52,000 children below two (2) years old. This study evaluated the awareness, accessibility, and compliance of mothers with children aged 0-6 years old on immunization during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The researchers conducted descriptive correlational research through the use of a survey questionnaire as the research instrument to illicit information about the awareness of immunization programs, accessibility to vaccines, and compliance to the childhood immunization regimen. Descriptive statistics (percentage, frequency, mean, and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Cramer’s V and Chi-Square) were used. Of the 205 respondents, there is a moderate level of awareness with noted areas of lower awareness towards side effects and benefits of immunization, high level of accessibility of vaccines, and a good compliance (41%) with areas of low level of compliance (37.1%). It was concluded that there is a strong relationship between awareness of mothers to the compliance in immunization, where their awareness is a factor for mothers complying to the childhood immunization regimen. On the other hand, accessibility to vaccines and compliance to immunization has a moderate positive relationship, where easy access to immunization programs or services helps in increasing the compliance of mothers.