Epidemiology and Infection
Volume 143 – Issue 03 – February 2015
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayIssue?jid=HYG&tab=currentissue

Immunisation
The impact of the media on the decision of parents in South Wales to accept measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) immunization
S. WALSHa1, D. Rh. THOMASa1, B. W. MASONa1 c1 and M. R. EVANSa1
a1 Public Health Wales Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, Temple of Peace and Health, Cathays Park, Cardiff, UK
SUMMARY
A large measles outbreak occurred in South Wales in 2012/2013. The outbreak has been attributed to low take-up of measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) immunization in the early 2000s. To understand better the factors that led to this outbreak we present the findings of a case-control study carried out in the outbreak area in 2001 to investigate parents’ decision on whether to accept MMR. Parents who decided not to take-up MMR at the time were more likely to be older and better educated, more likely to report being influenced by newspapers [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 3•07, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1•62–5•80], television (aOR 3•30, 95% CI 1•70–6•43), the internet (aOR 7•23, 3•26–16•06) and vaccine pressure groups (aOR 5•20, 95% CI 2•22–12•16), and less likely to be influenced by a health visitor (aOR 0•30, 95% CI 0•16–0•57). In this area of Wales, daily English-language regional newspapers, UK news programmes and the internet appeared to have a powerful negative influence. We consider the relevance of these findings to the epidemiology of the outbreak and the subsequent public health response.