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Table 3 Reasons cited by participants for the acceptability of a transmission-blocking malaria vaccine, demonstrating motives and understanding of important concepts

From: Acceptability of a herd immunity-focused, transmission-blocking malaria vaccine in malaria-endemic communities in the Peruvian Amazon: an exploratory study

Theme 1: A TBV might be a superior intervention to current prevention and treatment options

 “It’s necessary for not infecting other people; my daughter has gastritis from getting sick so much!”—36 year old male, 12 de Abril

 “So that [the mosquitoes] perhaps won’t transmit, for prevention; besides, it’s better than the pills.”—53 year old male, Santa Rita

 “To not contaminate other people and so that it’s easier to get healthy. You can’t put up with this.”—26 year old female, 12 de Abril

 “It’s better than the pills that give us allergies.”—27 year old female, La Habana

 “It would give time, and there would be someone [healthy] left in the house that could still attend to the sick.”—34 year old female, La Habana

Theme 2: The concept of transmission blockade is understood and acceptable.

 “So that it doesn’t go on increasing, to not infect the rest.”—29 year old female, San José de Lupuna 

 “I wouldn’t want malaria to keep on growing, and this avoids that it passes on to all the others.”—40 year old female, Santa Rita

 “The mosquito will no longer transmit it; if we don’t, it will keep on infecting.”—65 year old male, San Pedro

 “I’m protecting it from transmitting to everybody else.”—39 year old female, Cahuide

 “So that my children don’t get sick and pass it on to all the other children.”20 year old female, Cahuide

Theme 3: The altruistic nature of a TBV is not a deterrent

 “We’re avoiding that my partner or a child or grandchild that comes to visit gets sick.”—75 year old male, Cahuide

 “So that the disease doesn’t pass on, to protect the rest. Perhaps it will be that it doesn’t do me any good, but it’s for others.”—35 year old male, La Habana

 “For protecting other people, there’s no problem with that.” 57 year old male, San Pedro

 “So there wouldn’t be so much transmission to other people. I would be protecting my children more than anything.”—33 year old female, Cahuide

 “To protect everyone else from the illness.”—38 year old male, Santa Rita

Theme 4: Appropriate application of a TBV could lead to regional elimination of malaria

 “The mosquito won’t transmit to other people anymore; if we all vaccinate ourselves, this malaria won’t exist anymore—42 year old female, Cahuide

 “The mosquito will no longer transmit to other people, and we won’t have malaria anymore.”—57 year old female, San José de Lupuna

 “It’s better that we’re not infecting one another anymore. We’d have to vaccinate everyone, then.”—75 year old male, Santa Rita

  1. Open-ended responses have been categorized by theme