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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Frontiers in Public Health

Survey on the knowledge, perceptions, and concerns of parents about childhood vaccinations in Italy

  • Laura Teodori1
  • Eugenio Serravalle1,2
  • Franco Stocco1
  • Panagis Polykretis2,3,4
4 affiliations
  1. 1AsSIS Associazione di Studi e Informazione sulla Salute - The Association for Studies and Information on Health
  2. 2Independent Medical-Scientific Commission
  3. 3“Allineare Sanità e Salute” Foundation
  4. 4Ancestralize Ltd.
Open at sourcePDFDOICite

Abstract

Objective: The present study aims to assess Italian families' knowledge, perceptions, and concerns about children's vaccinations through a national survey among 1,000 families with children aged 2 months to 16 years, stratified by sex, age, and area of residence. The overall margin of error was ±3.1%, and responses were also examined by geographical area, self-assessed socioeconomic status, and parental age.

Results: Most parents (90%) consider pediatric vaccines essential for their child's health, 86.5% recognize their importance for public health, 73% parents trust vaccines safety. However, only 34% correctly identified mandatory vaccines and just 17% distinguished between mandatory and recommended ones. Responses regarding compliance with vaccination requirements for school enrollment show an even higher level of disinformation, or incorrect/uncertain responses.

Conclusions: Despite the high level of knowledge about vaccines declared by the respondents, their answers do not indicate a very deep knowledge. The findings of the survey highlight concerns on the quality of information and the limitations of information provided by Italian institutional sources and national media showing responses that varied systematically by political orientation, indicating knowledge gaps rather than being uniformly grounded in scientific and legislative information. The necessity for more in-depth and comprehensive information is indisputable and vaccine information for parents should have vaccine safety and efficacy at its core.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{teodori2026survey,
  title = {{Survey on the knowledge, perceptions, and concerns of parents about childhood vaccinations in Italy}},
  author = {Laura Teodori and Eugenio Serravalle and Franco Stocco and Panagis Polykretis},
  journal = {Frontiers in Public Health},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3389/fpubh.2026.1950327},
  url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1950327/full},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Survey on the knowledge, perceptions, and concerns of parents about childhood vaccinations in Italy
AU  - Laura Teodori
AU  - Eugenio Serravalle
AU  - Franco Stocco
AU  - Panagis Polykretis
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/27
JO  - Frontiers in Public Health
DO  - 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1950327
UR  - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1950327/full
AB  - Objective: The present study aims to assess Italian families' knowledge, perceptions, and concerns about children's vaccinations through a national survey among 1,000 families with children aged 2 months to 16 years, stratified by sex, age, and area of residence. The overall margin of error was ±3.1%, and responses were also examined by geographical area, self-assessed socioeconomic status, and parental age.  Results: Most parents (90%) consider pediatric vaccines essential for their child's health, 86.5% recognize their importance for public health, 73% parents trust vaccines safety. However, only 34% correctly identified mandatory vaccines and just 17% distinguished between mandatory and recommended ones. Responses regarding compliance with vaccination requirements for school enrollment show an even higher level of disinformation, or incorrect/uncertain responses.  Conclusions: Despite the high level of knowledge about vaccines declared by the respondents, their answers do not indicate a very deep knowledge. The findings of the survey highlight concerns on the quality of information and the limitations of information provided by Italian institutional sources and national media showing responses that varied systematically by political orientation, indicating knowledge gaps rather than being uniformly grounded in scientific and legislative information. The necessity for more in-depth and comprehensive information is indisputable and vaccine information for parents should have vaccine safety and efficacy at its core.
SN  - 2296-2565
ER  -