Factors influencing a communitywide campaign to administer hepatitis A vaccine to men who have sex with men.

Abstract

A hepatitis A outbreak among men who have sex with men (MSM) led to a publicly funded vaccination campaign. We evaluated the MSM community's response. A cohort of MSM from 5 community sites was surveyed. Thirty-four (19%) of 178 potential vaccine candidates received the vaccine during the campaign. We found a linear relation between the number of exposures to campaign information and the likelihood of vaccination (P < .001). Vaccination was independently associated with awareness of the outbreak and the vaccine, having had sexual relations with men for 12 years or longer, having recently consulted a physician, and routinely reading a local gay newspaper. The difficult task of vaccinating MSM can be aided by repetitive promotional messages, especially via the gay media.