The Effect of Dengvaxia Issues on the Perception of Mothers towards Vaccination and Vaccine Hesitancy

Abstract

Vaccines are considered as the most important medical instruments to manage diseases. However, the Dengvaxia controversy created a significant difference between the perspective of mothers before and after the incident. Thus, this thesis aimed to identify the effect of Dengvaxia issues on the mothers’ perception towards vaccination and vaccine hesitancy because of its relevance in the COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. To assess the respondents’ perception, the researchers used a descriptive and quantitative approach by surveying 385 mothers in Region IV-A. Two versions of the survey questionnaire with informed consent were given, answering their perception towards vaccination before and after the issue. Various statistical treatments were used for data analysis. The Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance identified the respondents’ perception towards the statements based on their mean values. The Post Hoc test determined which group had significantly different responses using p-values. The paired sample t-test showed the significant differences of the mean scores of the respondents throughout the issue. Results indicated that mothers had a more positive perception towards vaccines before the issue. Consequently, their occupation was the only demographic profile that showed a significant difference in the attitude of mothers towards vaccination compliance. In conclusion, the Dengvaxia controversy significantly affected their perception towards vaccination and vaccine hesitancy. Hence, this study can be a framework for researchers to correlate behaviors of people towards vaccine hesitancy. The researchers recommend conducting a wider scope of participants, considering other factors as part of the criteria and using different methods to obtain more diverse results.