WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- Only 40 percent of U.S. adults are "absolutely certain" they will get the A/H1N1 vaccine for themselves, and 51 percent of parents are "absolutely certain" that they will get the vaccine for their children, a study of Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers showed on Friday.

    The Harvard researchers polled 1,042 U.S. adults for what they said was a representative sample of national opinion on Sept. 14-20.

    According to the survey released Friday, however, if there were people in their community who were sick or dying from A/H1N1 virus, about 60 percent of the people who used to say that they didn't think they would get the vaccine would change their mind and get it for themselves and their children.

    "These findings suggest that public health officials need to be prepared for a surge in demand for the A/H1N1 vaccine if the A/H1N1 flu becomes more severe," said Robert J. Blendon, Professor of Health Policy and Political Analysis at HSPH.

    Those who are not "absolutely certain" they will get the vaccine cited the following as the top "major" reasons for their thinking: (1) they are concerned about getting side effects from the vaccine (30 percent); (2) they don't think they are at risk of getting a serious case of the illness (28 percent); and (3) they think they could get medication to treat A/H1N1 if they do get sick (26 percent).

    The top "major" reasons cited by parents who are not "absolutely sure" they will get the vaccine are that (1) they are concerned about side effects of the vaccine (38 percent); (2) they are concerned that their children could get other illnesses from the vaccine (33 percent); and (3) they do not trust public health officials to provide correct information about the safety of the vaccine (31 percent).

    "There's still a lot of uncertainty about what people will ultimately do in terms of getting the vaccine. If public health officials want to encourage a larger number of people to get vaccinated this fall, they will need to address the public's concerns in the coming weeks," said Blendon, who led the survey.

Special Report:  World Tackles A/H1N1 Flu