Characterization of vaccine confidence among teachers in British Columbia, Canada: A population-based survey
Bibliographic record
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Teachers are an important occupational group to consider when addressing vaccine confidence and uptake for school-aged children due to their proximate role within school-based immunization programs. The objectives of this study were to characterize and identify sociodemographic factors associated with vaccine confidence and describe teachers' knowledge of and perceived role in the school-based immunization program, with the aim of informing public health policy and identifying opportunities for supporting teachers in their role in school-based immunization programs. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of elementary and secondary public-school teachers in British Columbia was completed from August to November 2020. Respondents provided sociodemographic information, as well as past vaccination experience, vaccine knowledge, and perceived role in the school-based immunization program. Vaccine confidence was measured using the Vaccine Hesitancy Scale (VHS). Characteristics associated with the VHS sub-scales 'lack of confidence in vaccines' and 'perceived risk of vaccines', were explored using ANOVA. Descriptive analysis was completed for teachers' perceived role in the immunization program. RESULTS: 5,095 surveys were included in this analysis. Overall vaccine confidence was high, with vaccine hesitancy being related to the perceived risk of vaccines rather than a lack of confidence in the effectiveness of vaccines. ANOVA found significant differences for both VHS-sub-scales based on sociodemographic factors, however, the strength of the association was generally small. High general vaccine knowledge and never having delayed or refused a vaccine in the past were associated with higher vaccine confidence. Overall, teachers reported a lack of clarity in their role within the school-based immunization program. CONCLUSIONS: This large population-based observational study of teachers highlights a number of key engagement opportunities between public health and the education sector. Using a validated scale, we found that overall, teachers are highly accepting of vaccines, and well situated as potential partners with public health to address vaccine hesitancy.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.003 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".