Public knowledge on influenza and influenza vaccines

Gorecka Adrianna, Gorecka Dagmara, Zaremba Bartłomiej, Wieteska Małgorzata, Urbańska Katarzyna. Public knowledge on influenza and influenza vaccines. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2021;11(8):209-214. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/JEHS.2021.11.08.021 https://apcz.umk.pl/czasopisma/index.php/JEHS/article/view/JEHS.2021.11.08.021 https://zenodo.org/record/5219473 The journal has had 5 points in Ministry of Science and Higher Education parametric evaluation. § 8. 2) and § 12. 1. 2) 22.02.2019. © The Authors 2021; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author (s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non commercial license Share alike. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 01.08.2021. Revised: 15.08.2021. Accepted: 18.08.2021. Public knowledge on influenza and influenza vaccines Adrianna Gorecka1, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1977-712X, gorecka.adrianna@wp.pl Dagmara Gorecka2, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0139-6580, dagmara.gor@wp.pl Bartłomiej Zaremba3, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3255-2745, zaremba.bartek28@gmail.com Małgorzata Wieteska1, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1566-7559, malgosia.wieteska@onet.eu Katarzyna Urbańska3, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3301-0179, kaasiaurbanska@gmail.com 1Students’ Research Group at the Department of Epidemiology and Clinical Research Methodology, Medical University of Lublin, Radziwiłłowska Street 11, 20-080 Lublin 2University of Live Sciences, student, Akademicka Street 13, 20-950 Lublin 3Medical University of Lublin, student, Racławickie Avenue 1, 20-059 Lublin Abstract Introduction and purpose. Influenza is the most common infectious disease reported in Poland. It is caused by a virus, which is transmitted through respiratory droplets. Vaccines are prime and most effective way to prevent the disease and its complications, but only 4,15 Polish people are vaccinated against influenza, which ranks Poland on one of the last places in Europe. Material and method. The aim of the study was evaluation of public knowledge about influenza and influenza vaccines. Results. The majority of respondents have basic knowledge about influenza, still most of them (almost 70%) have never been vaccinated against the flu. The main reason of that situation is their confidence about their good health and lack of necessity to get a vaccine. 92% of people points fever as the main symptom of influenza. Some people confuse symptoms of the flu with those of a cold of Covid-19 infection. More than 23% of people does not believe in the efficiency of the vaccine. Lack of sufficient knowledge about that issue is mentioned by 15% of the respondents. Polish people describe their knowledge in the middle of the 5-point scale, while most of them never learned about it. Conclusions. Still too few people in Poland decide to take a vaccine against influenza especially in age group below 65 years old. Reliable education should be of great importance for everyone, especially teachers and healthcare workers. Covid-19 had an impact on the number of people who decided to get the vaccine in 2020. Key words: influenza; flu; vaccination; influenza vaccine; Covid-1