Among parents who did get their children vaccinated, most got their children vaccinated at traditional sites including a physician's/other health care provider's office (46%) or a health clinic (22%). However, following significant efforts by public health officials to engage schools in H1N1 vaccination programs, nearly a third (29%) say their children were vaccinated at a school. The majority of parents say their children got the injectable vaccine (61%) while 35% got the nasal spray.

For those parents who did not get the vaccine for their children and do not intend to (44%), the most commonly cited "major" reason for this decision was a concern about the safety of the vaccine (56%). Secondarily, parents who made this decision explained that they could treat H1N1 with medication if their children got sick with it (33%), and they don't think the H1N1 outbreak is as serious now as public officials once thought (32%).

A majority of adults (59%) rated the overall response of public health officials to the H1N1 outbreak as "excellent" or "good." Conversely, 39% rated the overall response as "fair" or "poor." In the view of more than half of adults (54%), public health officials spent "the right amount" of attention on the H1N1 flu outbreak, but 26% said they spent "too much" attention, and 16% said they spent "too little." Intensive public health advertising about the importance of getting the H1N1 flu vaccine, including posters, billboards, web-based ads, television or newspaper ads, was reported as seen by 76% of adults since the beginning of December 2009.

Previous polls concerning the H1N1 flu outbreak undertaken by the Harvard Opinion Research Program (HORP) at HSPH are listed below:

"Poll Finds Three Quarters of Parents Who Tried to Get H1N1 Vaccine for Their Children Have Gotten It," December 22, 2009

"Poll: Travelers Taking Significantly More Precautions Against H1N1 and Seasonal Flu on Trips This Year," December 10, 2009

"Poll Finds Two-thirds of Parents and High-priority Adults Who Tried to Get H1N1 Vaccine Were Unable to Get It," November 6, 2009.

"Survey Finds Just 40% of Adults Absolutely Certain They Will Get H1N1 Vaccine," October 2, 2009

"National Survey Finds Six in Ten Americans Believe Serious Outbreak of Influenza A (H1N1) Likely in Fall/Winter," July 15, 2009

"Survey Finds Many Americans Have Taken Steps to Protect Themselves Against H1N1," May 8, 2009

"Survey Finds Nearly Half of Americans Concerned They Or Their Family May Get Sick from Swine Flu," May 1, 2009.

Another survey from HORP looked at business preparedness:

"Four-Fifths of Businesses Foresee Severe Problems Maintaining Operations If Significant H1N1 Flu Outbreak," September 9, 2009

Source: Harvard School of Public Health