ParentsÓ? beliefs and attitudes about childhood vaccination: systematic review

Vaccination is an achievement that saves millions of children from contracting infectious diseases.However, some reports document noncompliance with the vaccination schedule by parents, or caregivers, attributable to deficient knowledge and false beliefs.The objective was to analyze studies describing the attitudes and beliefs of parents that affect or benefit decision-making about childhood vaccination.A systematic literature review was performed.The search was conducted in eight databases in three languages, with a publication period between 2017 and 2023, in three languages.One hundred and twenty-one articles were retrieved, of which 19 were selected for meeting the selection criteria.The main beliefs were: that natural immunity is better, children do not get infected, vaccination makes sick, it is a government conspiracy, and vaccination is done for commercial interests.The main attitudes were: procrastination, distrust of the government, indecision, indifference, and disbelief about the benefits.Some barriers were identified such as the mother's occupation, lack of vaccines in health centers, lack of knowledge, confusing information, unverified information in social networks, unaffordable vaccination schedules, low schooling, and economy.Some narratives such as "if they are not free, I do not vaccinate my child".It was identified that the "anti-vaccine" phenomenon is not part of the ideology of Latin Americans.It is concluded that parents' positive and negative attitudes and beliefs affect or benefit the decision-making process regarding childhood vaccination.