Key public health message

In France, 11 infant vaccines are required for entry to daycare and school, yet vaccine hesitancy is still frequent among parents. We wanted to evaluate whether motivational interviewing by midwives, carried out in maternity wards with mothers in the days after giving birth, could impact vaccine hesitancy. 
We found that motivational interviewing of mothers in maternity wards significantly reduced their vaccine hesitancy. The women who were initially the most hesitant to vaccinate their newborns were the most impacted by the interviews. We also found that a reduction in vaccine hesitancy was greatest for mothers with low education levels.
Our results, combined with high participant satisfaction with the intervention overall and for several of its specific aspects, suggest that motivational interview can be applied in maternity wards in the days after birth and is an effective strategy to reduce vaccine hesitancy and improve mothers’ intention to vaccinate their newborn child.