Table 2.
A selected excerpt of pregnant women’s knowledge and perception on reactive emergency yellow fever immunization
| Yellow fever | They told us that this disease (YF) has come to the area. It kills people and once you get it you have to die. So, I was forced to take the vaccination, because I feared to die. People went (to be vaccinated), because they heard that some of their friends had died (of it). (Vaccinated during the first trimester, Rukungiri) |
| Vertical transmission | Yellow fever can be transmitted, because what your body contains during gestation is always shared (by umbilical cord) with the baby. That’s how YF can be transmitted from mother to child. (Vaccinated during the third trimester, Kalangala) |
| Fetus immunized | I thought that since I was vaccinated while pregnant my child was also vaccinated. (FGD) |
| Reason for immunization | I got vaccinated because I was scared of the disease and I was concerned because I was pregnant. (Vaccinated during the second trimester, Masaka) |
| I decided to get vaccinated even if I get an abortion, at least me personally I will remain healthy, so that I don’t contract YF and spread it to others. (FGD) | |
| People, who missed the vaccination during mass vaccination, will not be able to get treatment when they get YF in the future. (Vaccinated during the first trimester, Rukungiri) | |
| We were told that if you don’t get vaccinated against YF and you contract it (YF) hospital bills will be expensive. Without a yellow fever certificate, you cannot travel abroad. If you don’t keep your certificate safe you will not receive treatment (for YF) in case, you contract YF. (FGD) | |
| Vaccine knowledge | All l know is that once you receive the YF vaccine you are protected from the disease, but I am not informed on how long the vaccine lasts. (Vaccinated during the second trimester, Kalangala) |
| I think it (a booster dose) is required after a 5-year interval. (Vaccinated during the third trimester, Kalangala) | |
| Since I was vaccinated once it was enough. (Vaccinated during the third trimester, Rukungiri) | |
| Vaccine recommendation | Initially I thought that each and everybody could be vaccinated. Soon after vaccination I realized that vaccination was targeting pregnant women greater than 4 months of gestation, babies greater than 6 months and adults. (Vaccinated during the first trimester, Kalangala) |
| I was told (by health workers) that since I was near term, I could get vaccinated and thereby even protect the unborn child from contracting YF. (FGD) | |
| Health workers told pregnant women, who were near term, not to receive the vaccine. Whereas, my pregnancy was just an early pregnancy. (Vaccinated during the first trimester, Rukungiri) |
YF = yellow fever; FGD = focus group discussion.