IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nwe/eajour/y2018i1p86-112.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Controversial Behavior Of Romanian Consumers Regarding The Safety Of Flu Shot Immunization

Author

Listed:
  • Luiela Magdalena Csorba

    (University Aurel Vlaicu of Arad, Romania)

  • Valentin Burca
  • Sergiu Rusu

Abstract

Nowadays effectiveness, safety and security of vaccines are widely used terms, giving birth to controversies regarding the efficiency and risks of the recommended immunization. The paper analyses the Romanian population’s behaviour regarding immunization against flu, from the consumer protection point of view. In the international literature there are studies regarding the efficacy and effectiveness of influenza vaccines from a medical point of view, not from the consumer protection or consumer behaviour perspective. We are interested in identifying the profile of the Romanian consumers in terms of accepting or not flu immunization, the perception of the consumer concerning flu shot safety and the main factors which determine the consumer’s behaviour. In this context, we started our study using as background the following: the history of influenza and vaccination, a market research in Romania and abroad, and some controversies regarding the efficiency and safety of flu shot (the pros and cons immunization). In order to obtain pertinent data, we proceed with a factor analysis that reduces significantly the decision model analysis (using the Likert scale, the KMO test and the Kaiser criteria). Therefore, a survey has been conducted among 303 respondents from Romania, who belong to different social classes. We concluded how important mass media, medical profession bodies’ involvement and self-documentation are in drawing up a clear opinion regarding consumers’ immunization, which is anyway extremely subjective. The key findings of this study outline the fact that mass media plays an essential role in directing the debate in favour or against flu shot administration towards a general agreement.

Suggested Citation

  • Luiela Magdalena Csorba & Valentin Burca & Sergiu Rusu, 2018. "The Controversial Behavior Of Romanian Consumers Regarding The Safety Of Flu Shot Immunization," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 1, pages 86-112, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:nwe:eajour:y:2018:i:1:p:86-112
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.unwe.bg/uploads/Alternatives/7_Csorba_EAlternativi_en_1_2018.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christina E. Mills & James M. Robins & Marc Lipsitch, 2004. "Transmissibility of 1918 pandemic influenza," Nature, Nature, vol. 432(7019), pages 904-906, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christoph Zimmer & Reza Yaesoubi & Ted Cohen, 2017. "A Likelihood Approach for Real-Time Calibration of Stochastic Compartmental Epidemic Models," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(1), pages 1-21, January.
    2. Victor W. Chu & Raymond K. Wong & Chi-Hung Chi & Wei Zhou & Ivan Ho, 2017. "The design of a cloud-based tracker platform based on system-of-systems service architecture," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 19(6), pages 1283-1299, December.
    3. Qin, Wenjie & Tang, Sanyi, 2014. "The selection pressures induced non-smooth infectious disease model and bifurcation analysis," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 160-171.
    4. Lawrence M. Wein & Michael P. Atkinson, 2009. "Assessing Infection Control Measures for Pandemic Influenza," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(7), pages 949-962, July.
    5. Savachkin, Alex & Uribe, Andrés, 2012. "Dynamic redistribution of mitigation resources during influenza pandemics," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 33-45.
    6. Brotherhood, Luiz & Kircher, Philipp & Santos, Cezar & Tertilt, Michele, 2024. "Optimal Age-based Policies for Pandemics: An Economic Analysis of Covid-19 and Beyond," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2024012, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    7. Kumar, Anuj & Srivastava, Prashant K. & Dong, Yueping & Takeuchi, Yasuhiro, 2020. "Optimal control of infectious disease: Information-induced vaccination and limited treatment," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 542(C).
    8. Arenas, Abbiana R. & Thackar, Neil B. & Haskell, Evan C., 2017. "The logistic growth model as an approximating model for viral load measurements of influenza A virus," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 206-222.
    9. Hanmin Dong & Xiujie Tan & Si Cheng & Yishuang Liu, 2023. "COVID-19, recovery policies and the resilience of EU ETS," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(5), pages 2965-2991, October.
    10. Nikta Bahman Bijari & Mohammad Hadi Mahdinia & Mohammad Reza Mansouri Daneshvar, 2021. "Investigation of the urbanization contribution to the COVID-19 outbreak in Iran and the MECA countries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(12), pages 17964-17985, December.
    11. Burris, Courtney & Nikolaev, Alexander & Zhong, Shiran & Bian, Ling, 2021. "Network effects in influenza spread: The impact of mobility and socio-economic factors," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    12. Murat Sayan & Evren Hınçal & Tamer Şanlıdağ & Bilgen Kaymakamzade & Farouk Tijjani Sa’ad & Isa Abdullahi Baba, 2018. "Dynamics of HIV/AIDS in Turkey from 1985 to 2016," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 711-723, December.
    13. Toshikazu Kuniya, 2018. "Stability Analysis of an Age-Structured SIR Epidemic Model with a Reduction Method to ODEs," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 6(9), pages 1-10, August.
    14. Barro, Robert J. & Ursúa, José F. & Weng, Joanna, 2022. "Macroeconomics of the Great Influenza Pandemic, 1918–1920," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 21-29.
    15. Elnaz Karimi & Ketra Schmitt & Ali Akgunduz, 2015. "Effect of individual protective behaviors on influenza transmission: an agent-based model," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 318-333, September.
    16. George J Milne & Nilimesh Halder & Joel K Kelso, 2013. "The Cost Effectiveness of Pandemic Influenza Interventions: A Pandemic Severity Based Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(4), pages 1-16, April.
    17. Richard Franke, 2022. "Poverty, pollution, and mortality: The 1918 influenza pandemic in a developing German economy," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(4), pages 1026-1053, November.
    18. Carrasco, L R & Lee, V J & Chen, M I & Matchar, D B & Thompson, J P & Cook, A R, 2011. "Strategies for antiviral stockpiling for future influenza pandemics: a global epidemic-economic perspective," MPRA Paper 57763, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Aditya Goenka & Lin Liu, 2012. "Infectious diseases and endogenous fluctuations," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 50(1), pages 125-149, May.
    20. Pedro, S.A. & Rwezaura, H. & Mandipezar, A. & Tchuenche, J.M., 2021. "Qualitative Analysis of an influenza model with biomedical interventions," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    consumer protection; immunization; flu shot; controversies; safety;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M31 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Marketing
    • D18 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Protection
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • C10 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nwe:eajour:y:2018:i:1:p:86-112. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Vanya Lazarova (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/unweebg.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.