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Multicenter Study
. 2020 Nov 10;38(48):7668-7673.
doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.09.084. Epub 2020 Oct 10.

Caregiver willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19: Cross sectional survey

Ran D Goldman  1 , Tyler D Yan  2 , Michelle Seiler  3 , Cristina Parra Cotanda  4 , Julie C Brown  5 , Eileen J Klein  5 , Julia Hoeffe  6 , Renana Gelernter  7 , Jeanine E Hall  8 , Adrienne L Davis  9 , Mark A Griffiths  10 , Ahmed Mater  11 , Sergio Manzano  12 , Gianluca Gualco  13 , Naoki Shimizu  14 , Thomas L Hurt  15 , Sara Ahmed  15 , Matt Hansen  16 , David Sheridan  17 , Samina Ali  18 , Graham C Thompson  19 , Nathalie Gaucher  20 , Georg Staubli  3 ; International COVID-19 Parental Attitude Study (COVIPAS) Group
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Caregiver willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19: Cross sectional survey

Ran D Goldman et al. Vaccine. .

Abstract

Background: More than 100 COVID-19 vaccine candidates are in development since the SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequence was published in January 2020. The uptake of a COVID-19 vaccine among children will be instrumental in limiting the spread of the disease as herd immunity may require vaccine coverage of up to 80% of the population. Prior history of pandemic vaccine coverage was as low as 40% among children in the United States during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic.

Purpose: To investigate predictors associated with global caregivers' intent to vaccinate their children against COVID-19, when the vaccine becomes available.

Method: An international cross sectional survey of 1541 caregivers arriving with their children to 16 pediatric Emergency Departments (ED) across six countries from March 26 to May 31, 2020.

Results: 65% (n = 1005) of caregivers reported that they intend to vaccinate their child against COVID-19, once a vaccine is available. A univariate and subsequent multivariate analysis found that increased intended uptake was associated with children that were older, children with no chronic illness, when fathers completed the survey, children up-to-date on their vaccination schedule, recent history of vaccination against influenza, and caregivers concerned their child had COVID-19 at the time of survey completion in the ED. The most common reason reported by caregivers intending to vaccinate was to protect their child (62%), and the most common reason reported by caregivers refusing vaccination was the vaccine's novelty (52%).

Conclusions: The majority of caregivers intend to vaccinate their children against COVID-19, though uptake will likely be associated with specific factors such as child and caregiver demographics and vaccination history. Public health strategies need to address barriers to uptake by providing evidence about an upcoming COVID-19 vaccine's safety and efficacy, highlighting the risks and consequences of infection in children, and educating caregivers on the role of vaccination.

Keywords: COVID-19; Child; Coronavirus; Emergency Department; Pandemic; Vaccination.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Level of concern from COVID-19 in the child and willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 if a vaccine was available. p-value is 0.017.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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