UNC preparedness center surveys attitudes about flu vaccine

Sue Naorungroj, epidemiology master’s student, prepares materials about H1N1 flu.

The North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness, part of the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, recently received funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Practice-Based Research Network to determine N.C. communities’ attitudes about influenza vaccination.

The assessment was planned in collaboration with the N.C. Division of Public Health in light of concerns about the potential impact of novel influenza A (H1N1) during the fall 2009 flu season.

Staff from the preparedness center and its Team Epi-Aid student volunteer group surveyed 207 residents of Orange and Alamance counties. The N.C. Division of Public Health and the counties’ health departments also participated.

The survey found:

• 83 percent of the respondents received information about H1N1 from television.
• 80 percent knew about the H1N1 vaccine.
• 64 percent intended to get vaccinated for the novel influenza.
• 61 percent of those who were parents planned to vaccinate their children.
• About half of the young adults surveyed intended to receive the vaccine.

Matt Simon, NCCPHP staff member, instructs a Team Epi-Aid volunteer in the use of a handheld computer for collecting survey data.

Those who did not plan to get vaccinated cited as reasons the perception that H1N1 is not a severe illness or that vaccination might be ineffective in preventing infection.

“Information from this community-based assessment has been shared with local and state health officials across the country to assist in planning for H1N1 vaccine campaigns this fall,” said Jennifer Horney, PhD, assistant director for the preparedness center.

“Although the survey suggests that many are aware of and intend to receive H1N1 vaccine, health departments still may need to target persons in identified high-priority groups,” she said.

For more information, contact Dr. Jennifer Horney, (919) 843-5566 or jen.horney@unc.edu.

UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu.