Date Posted: June 9, 2026

Author/s: Lady Alexis Jin R. Aduca, Casser John D. Aguinaldo, Michael Angelo Avila, , Ryan Ali Y. Banjal, Relyn Joy C. Bartolome, Aaron Christopher C. Braganza, Shaira Faith M. Consista, Kristian Oliver S. Cruz, Augustine John A. Cui, Paul Laurence A. Del Rosario, Michaela Marie C. Dizon, Carla Justine R. Egargo, Sandra Fe M. Esguerra, Alexandra Mae Q. Espineda, Isabelle Joy M. Faral, Marvile Rea R. Ferrer, Karen Mae F. Fiedacan, Pamela D. Garcia, Kym V. Gonzales, Michael John P. Kuizon, Jerzeth Kate A. Labao, Ma. Kristina Carla B. Lagman, Cleo Thea V. Laydia, Jhan Rose Liu, Djoseth Paula T. Macomb, Laila Noreen R. Magnaye, Rochelle D. Maligalig, Precious Neza M. Mapusao, Christopher Matthew B. Mendoza, Danielle Allyson O. Miranda

Background: Vaccination is one of the most important advances in medicine. Over the past years, it has prevented diseases that before would be fatal and can even cause death. Since then, vaccination has been a regular part in preventing diseases, specifically those administered during childhood. However, recently, there has been a decline in vaccine coverage areas causing outbreaks of preventable diseases. Research has shown that because of the numerous information sources especially the Internet and social media that people can obtain, misconception about vaccination occurs causing parents to refuse immunizing their children.

Objective: This study aimed to identify the sources of vaccine information among parents. It also aimed to determine reliability of parental childhood vaccine information with the World Health Organization (WHO) or Department of Health (DOH) immunization criteria, and lastly, it aimed to determine the effect of vaccine information sources and reliability on vaccination status of the children.

Methodology: The researchers used an analytic cross-sectional design to identify the objectives. The study was conducted in Quezon City, Philippines, and participants were Filipino mothers over the age of 18 years old with at least one child at two and a half years old or below.

Results: Out of 385 respondents of the survey questionnaire, 129 (33%) were validated and included in the analysis. For the sources of information, 71% of the respondents were reported to be using 1 to 3 sources of information on childhood vaccines, with family and friends as the leading source. Also, more than half (58.9%) of the respondents were reported to have inadequate reliable sources of information. With regards to immunization status, more than half (51.94%) of the children have updated immunization status but almost half (48.06%) were not. Determination of prevalence odds ratio (3.074) between information content reliability and immunization status showed that the majority of respondents have inadequate reliability of information regarding childhood vaccines.

Conclusion: It was shown in this study that the childhood vaccination information obtained by most of the respondents were insufficient. With these findings, the authors concluded that the reliability of the sources of childhood vaccine information affects the immunization status of the children.

Keywords:
Vaccination, preventable diseases