The Impact of Socio-Economic Determinants on the Vaccination Rates with Rotavirus and Human Papiloma Virus Vaccine

BACKGROUND: Socio-economic inequalities may have an impact on the uptake of selfpaid vaccines. The aim of the study was to identify the effect of some socio economic determinants on vaccination rates with self-paid human papilloma virus (HPV) and rotavirus (RV) vaccines. METHODS: Vaccination coverage data, available in electronic database cepljenje.net (administered by the National Institute of Public Health), were collected at administrative unit level. The socio-economic determinants (the average gross pay in euros, the unemployment rate, the educational and households structure, the population density, the number of inhabitants, the number of children aged from 0 to 4, the number of women aged from 15 to 30) were extracted from Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia web page. The strength of the correlation between socioeconomic variables and self-paid HPV and RV vaccination rates was determined. RESULTS: Rotavirus vaccination rates show a slight negative correlation with the number of residents per administrative unit (ρ=−0.29, p=0.04), and no correlation with other socio-economic variables. Likewise, no correlation has been found between HPV vaccination rates and the selected socio-economic variables. CONCLUSION: Ecological study did not reveal any correlations between socio economic variables and vaccination rates with RV and HPV self-paid vaccines on administrative unit level.