Opinie studentów polskich uczelni wyższych na temat obowiązkowych szczepień ochronnych zawartych w Programie Szczepień Ochronnych na rok 2018 — badanie ankietowe

Introduction: Protective vaccination is an extremely important method of combating dangerous infectious diseases. Its introduction significantly reduced incidence and mortality. Unfortunately, recently one observes increased activity of anti-vaccine movements, which by presenting false opinions try to dissuade society from immunization, postulating that vaccination should be voluntary. Unfortunately, these arguments often reach fertile ground, especially young people who will soon have or already have their children and will decide to vaccinate them or not. The aim of the study is to analyze the opinions of students of Polish universities about the obligation of protective vaccinations contained in the National Immunization Programme (PSO) for 2018. Material and methods: The original questionnaire was addressed to students of Polish universities of both sexes aged 18–35 through Facebook. 1486 responses were obtained, which were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and STATISTICA 10.0 Results: In the survey, the majority of respondents before entering university lived in cities of up to 100,000 inhabitants, they were mainly women, studying at a non-medical university, without their own children. The majority of respondents thought that vaccinations against infectious diseases contained in PSO should be obligatory, however, many of them did not have an opinion, mainly in the case of vaccinations against Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), pneumococcus and poliomyelitis. Conclusions: Most of the surveyed students support the obligation of vaccination. However, there is also a large percentage of undecided and opposite people, mainly in the case of vaccinations against pneumococci, Hib and poliomyelits. Strong and urgent action by public authorities is needed to persuade people who are undecided, so that support for mandatory vaccinations will increase significantly.