Pediatricians’ Attitudes and Knowledge of RSV Immunization Products
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract Purpose Nirsevimab and the maternal vaccination in pregnancy are newly introduced prevention strategies against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). This study evaluated pediatricians’ knowledge, attitudes, and barriers to RSV immunization in Italy and Cyprus/Greece, where nirsevimab had not yet been implemented, and in Spain, where it was introduced in 2023/2024. Methods A survey was distributed to pediatricians across Spain, Italy, and Cyprus/Greece in July-August/2024. Occupational characteristics, and knowledge, attitudes and practices toward palivizumab, nirsevimab, and the maternal vaccine were collected. Of 578 respondents (response rate=19.3%), 50% were from Spain, 40% from Italy, and 10% from Cyprus/Greece. As 90% of responses came from Spain and Italy, the main analysis focused on these two countries. Descriptive and univariate analyses (Chi-square or Fisher’s exact tests) were conducted. Results Respondents included pediatricians from community (51.7%), tertiary (30.4%), and primary/secondary care (17.9%) settings. Pediatricians were generally aware of RSV risk factors, without differences across countries. However, 245 (55.9%) and 375 (86.0%) participants reported average-to-low knowledge of nirsevimab and the maternal vaccine, respectively, with differences across countries (p=0.002). Despite limited knowledge, 311 (85.9%) pediatricians were willing to administer nirsevimab, and 319 (92.2%) supported its use for all infants. Nirsevimab administration’s barriers, including unfamiliarity and logistical challenges, were cited by 69 (20.0%) pediatricians. Regarding immunization preferences, 165 (47.4%) pediatricians were very likely to support the maternal vaccine over nirsevimab. Conclusions While pediatricians support RSV immunization, knowledge gaps and logistical barriers may hinder early-stage implementation. Optimizing education on RSV immunization will be crucial to improve uptake and prevention strategies. What’s Known on This Subject There is limited evidence regarding pediatricians’ attitudes and knowledge of nirsevimab and maternal RSV vaccination during pregnancy. What This Study Adds This multi-country survey evaluates pediatricians’ knowledge, attitudes, and barriers to RSV immunization in Italy and Cyprus/Greece, where nirsevimab had not yet been implemented, and in Spain, where it was introduced in 2023/2024.
Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.
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 | 0.004 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.003 | 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".