Childhood vaccination: doubts, ambiguities and decision-making in middle-class mothers in Argentina

Abstract

In recent years, behaviors of rejection or hesitancy towards vaccination and the growth of the so-called “anti-vax movement” have been defined as a challenge to Public Health. This articles aims to analyze the decision-making processes of middle-class mothers in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in relation to the vaccination of their children, considering factors that trigger behaviors of hesitancy or fear towards vaccination. A total of 35 in-depth interviews were conducted with middle-class mothers in the city of Buenos Aires, identified with “natural” or similar to the so-called “respectful upbringing” motherhood styles. Different trajectories or paths for vaccine hesitancy or rejection can be traced: (a) previously generated by comments or indications from health professionals during childbirth or pediatric consultations; (b) resulting from more general changes in lifestyles, marked by the option for alternative or “natural” healthcare; (c) inserted in processes of criticism and distrust in relation to biomedicine and the affirmation of autonomy in healthcare decisions; and (d) from an active search for information in sources mostly opposed to vaccination. The doubts or ambiguities regarding vaccination presented by these mothers do not unequivocally translate into the rejection of vaccination, but rather into a diversity of practices: vaccination with reservations, selection or postponement of some vaccines and non-vaccination.