This cross-sectional study determined the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy and the attitude of parents towards immunization in Zamboanga City. Stratified random sampling was used to select the 230 respondents of this study. Telephone interviews were conducted to obtain data. These data were tabulated in an Excel spreadsheet for frequencies and percentages and analyzed for statistical significance using STATA software. This study identified 47 percent vaccine hesitancy among the study participants. Marital status and educational attainment showed statistical significance for vaccine-hesitant parents with p-values of 0.045 and 0.004, respectively. Results also showed that parents who believe that vaccines are important and can protect their children from infectious diseases tend to be less vaccine-hesitant, while parents who received negative information tend to be more vaccine-hesitant. This study also showed that the Dengvaxia controversy and the risks of COVID-19 transmission are the main reasons for their vaccine hesitancy. Although some parents were vaccine-hesitant, they still allowed their children to be vaccinated as evidenced by a lower refusal rate compared to the vaccine hesitancy rate.

Keyword: Vaccine hesitancy Attitude towards immunization After dengvaxia controversy