Higher educational attainment associated with higher confidence in influenza vaccination in Norway

Abstract

Aims: To explore public confidence in influenza vaccination through the use of attitudinal indicators, and study whether educational attainment is related to attitudes towards influenza vaccination.

Methods: Confidence in influenza vaccination was measured with three questions adapted from the Vaccine Confidence Project. These questions have been included in four study years of a Norwegian nationally representative telephone survey that cover influenza seasons 2016/17, 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22. Over these four years, a total of 8 436 individuals aged 18–79 years responded to the survey and are included in the analysis. Risk differences (RDs) with 95 % confidence intervals were estimated using multivariable Poisson regression.

Results: Influenza vaccine confidence increased over time, with approximately 80 % of the general population expressing trust in the vaccine in the 2021/22 season. There was a tendency towards higher confidence in the oldest age group (65–79 years). Moreover, confidence increased with increasing educational attainment. The proportion of participants who agreed that influenza vaccine is compatible with their basic values was close to 20 percentage points lower among those with only compulsory education than among those with higher education at graduate level, RD = − 18.4 % (95 % CI − 21.4 % to − 15.5 %). Educational attainment was consistently associated with influenza vaccine confidence in all seasons, among risk groups 18–64 years, and among health care workers.

Conclusions: We observed an increase in confidence in influenza vaccination over the seasons examined in the study. However, the increase has not been equal in all groups and there is a clear educational gradient in influenza vaccine confidence. These findings indicate that despite efforts to increase influenza coverage over several years, the implemented measures have failed to reach all parts of the population.