Affiliations 

  • 1 Ministry of Health
MyJurnal

Abstract

Introduction: The National Immunization Program in Malaysia began in the 1950s and was integrated into the Ma-ternal and Child Health Program. Administrative data showed that coverage for all vaccinations was more than 95% except for measles vaccination. Despite the high coverage, there were clusters of outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases. One of the reasons is the increasing phenomena of vaccines refusals following the rapid spread of negative perception and concerns through social media. Nurses as front liners play an important role to communicate on vac-cine safety and adverse events (AEFI). A survey was conducted to identify the level of knowledge among nurses who deal with immunisation programme. Methods: Nurses from all states attending a National seminar on immunisation communication in Putrajaya were asked to answer a Digital online questionnaire. They were asked to answer 12 questions on knowledge of vaccines, immunization schedule and cold chain management. Results: A total of 74% (429) of the seminar participants responded to the questionnaire, of which 85% were from the government sector and 15% from private. Findings showed that although about 75% of the nurses had formal training on immunisation, 50% had lack of knowledge about vaccination schedule for defaulters and 63.2% (268) had knowledge gaps related to questions on vaccines and handling of vaccines. Conclusion: In view of the knowledge gap from this survey, there is a need for ongoing training for the nurses and evaluation by supervisors on the knowledge and practices among nurses.