Purpose: Vaccine hesitancy is the refusal, delay, or modification of the recommended vaccine schedule. This project aimed to identify and explore caregiver vaccine hesitancy of parents with children age 0-5 years.

Methods: The Parent Attitudes about Childhood Vaccines (PACV) survey was used to identify vaccine-hesitant caregivers of children age 0-5 years. Once identified a brief educational session was conducted one-one with the investigator, this session included verbal as well as written educational intervention. The survey was repeated via telephone within 4-6 weeks.

Results: Seventy-five caregivers participated in the study, 11 of which were identified as vaccine-hesitant. Among respondents, 58% were white/Caucasian, and 27% were black/African American. Upon completion of a brief educational session using vaccine teaching tools, four caregivers remained vaccine-hesitant. The rate of vaccine hesitancy within the study population was approximately 15%, with little variation between levels of hesitancy when comparing mothers and fathers. There was a statistically significant correlation between vaccine hesitancy and race.

Conclusions: Open dialogue coupled with educational handouts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) can be effective in reducing the level of hesitancy as measured by the PACV survey.