Both innate and adaptive immunity declines with age, forming a cohort of individuals highly susceptible to infectious diseases. This poses a significant threat to the adult population. At that, the vaccination of adults is given less attention than vaccination of children, which follows the developed organizational and methodological principles.

OBJECTIVE

Examine barriers to and facilitators of vaccination of adults and healthcare workers.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In the Arkhangelsk region, the study was conducted using focus groups with the population aged 18 and older and with healthcare workers. The approach proposed by the World Health Organization to adapt immunization programs was used. The method of purposive sampling was employed to select study participants. Both individual and contextual factors influencing vaccination behavior were examined. The data were analyzed using content analysis, considering the population based on gender and age and healthcare workers based on specialty and age.

RESULTS

The general public (2 focus groups) and health workers (6 focus groups) were 2 target groups selected for the study. In both groups with general public and health workers, the factors facilitating vaccination were a positive attitude towards vaccination, trust in health workers, and referral for vaccination by the employer. Barriers for the population included insufficient access to information, organizational and logistical difficulties (queues, appointment times), a limited list of free vaccines, and a lack of explanation and reasoning on the part of health workers. Barriers for health workers included a lack of accessible and regularly updated information on vaccines, statistical information on morbidity, outbreaks, and patient information materials, as well as difficulties in communication, lack of communication skills and time for explanations at appointments, and difficulties accessing patients who do not attend polyclinics regularly.

CONCLUSION

The focus group study found that most barriers were associated with deficiencies in vaccination communication, both on the systemic «health care—population» level and the individual «doctor—patient» level.