There’s just a void of information that people need to get and, yeah I just, I think it’s irresponsible in the press to do that. (P24, no MMR1) Some parents discussed MMR decision-making as a factor on which responsible parenting, morals, and perhaps even intellect, could and would be judged. Many parents compared their decisions and decision-making rationale with those of other parents, and felt that in turn their own decision would be judged by people around them. Those doing the judging included fellow parents, family, friends and health professionals – but some parents expected they would be their own harshest critic if their decision

turned out badly. Parents who rejected MMR1 questioned the extent to which most parents taking their course of action really understand the issues around their decision Z VAD FMK (and felt that they were unusual in having ‘good’ knowledge about or justification for rejection), whilst parents who accepted MMR1 doubted not the knowledge of MMR rejectors, but their motivation. However, MMR1 acceptors still defended all parents’ right to choose whether to give vaccines. I’d like to think that my decision [to reject MMR] was quite a considered decision but I think with some parents that’s

not necessarily the case. (P19, no MMR1) Other parents were judged also on whether they had taken responsibility for their child’s wellbeing, or absolved themselves of it. Parents across groups defined their own course of action as the most responsible one: MMR1 rejectors felt that acceptors had taken the easy option and had rejected responsibility for maintaining SCH772984 their child’s health; and MMR1 acceptors felt that rejectors had opted out of making a difficult Non-specific serine/threonine protein kinase decision and prioritised their fear over their child’s health. Taking responsibility was conceptualised as being prepared to identify and manage the consequences of your choice

for your child – so some parents opting out of vaccination discussed the importance of being alert to their child catching a ‘wild’ infection, and some parents opting to vaccinate discussed the importance of being alert to their child having a vaccine reaction. I think the only people that make this decision lightly are the ones that just go and get it because they got the [invitation] in the post, those are the only people I think, not people who don’t… the people who just go along with it, like sheep… oh, that person’s doing it, everybody else says it’s OK, so I’m just going to follow along. (P15, singles) Being judged by others appeared to be a concern mainly for parents rejecting MMR1 or taking single vaccines. Rejectors in particular frequently referred to fellow parents, clinicians and partners evaluating their decision negatively, and some specifically resented accusations that their decision was ill-informed and based only on the MMR-autism link.