Reduced social pressure and lack of capacity deteriorate vaccination
compliance - The case of Lumpy Skin Disease
Abstract
Successful prevention of epidemics depends on vaccine compliance and the
resultant maintenance of high vaccination coverage for long periods.
However, to the best of our knowledge, a study of the temporal dynamics
of compliance in voluntary vaccination campaigns and of the factors
which influence them was never published. In this study, we investigated
the factors influencing the dynamics of vaccination compliance against
lumpy skin disease (LSD) after the occurrence of LSD epidemics in Israel
in 2012-2013 and 2019. From 2016 to 2019, we followed voluntary LSD
annual vaccination among a cohort of 566 farmers and used questionnaires
based on the theory of planned behaviour to investigate the incentives
influencing vaccine compliance among 90 farmers. The results showed a
reduction in vaccination against LSD from 61% in 2016 to 27% in 2019
and a very strong association between prior vaccination and vaccination
compliance. The actual vaccination by farmers who stated a positive
intention to vaccinate was 4.5 times higher than farmers who did not
(p-value=0.007). However, half of the highly intended farmers eventually
didn’t vaccinate their herd. These farmers were significantly more
concerned by manpower and vaccine price compared to their vaccinating
counterparts, pointing to vaccination effort perceptions as a major
factor influencing compliance. In addition, we found that farmers who
answered the questionnaires before the epidemic of 2019 perceived
significantly less pressure to vaccinate imposed by veterinary
organizations (private and governmental) than farmers answering them
during or after the epidemic. We conclude that the
veterinarian-associated social pressure is a major compliance-enhancing
factor, influenced by the occurrence of an epidemic. Our findings
suggest that the deterioration of vaccination compliance after an
epidemic can be mitigated by maintenance of pressure to vaccinate by
veterinarians. Manpower support and vaccine discounts may be advocated
to promote vaccine compliance.