Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Apr 28:10:755073.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.755073. eCollection 2022.

Parents' Hesitancy to Vaccinate Their Children Against COVID-19, a Country-Wide Survey

Sultan F Alhazza  1 , Ali M Altalhi  2 , Khaled M Alamri  3 , Saleh S Alenazi  2 , Bader A Alqarni  4 , Abdulellah M Almohaya  5
Affiliations

Parents' Hesitancy to Vaccinate Their Children Against COVID-19, a Country-Wide Survey

Sultan F Alhazza et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Objective: Parents' hesitancy (PH) toward childhood vaccination, including the vaccine of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is one of the top public health threats. We aim to assess the PH toward children COVID-19 vaccination as compared to PH toward children routine vaccination among the residents of Saudi Arabia.

Method: Before the official approval of children's COVID-19 vaccination in the country, a cross-sectional study using an electronically distributed survey was performed. Responses from parents of children younger than 18 years of age were accepted. The Oxford COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy scale (OC19-VHS) and the routine vaccination hesitancy scale (R-VHS) were used. Parents were classified as hesitant, non-hesitant, and unsure.

Results: Between June 18th-30th, 2021, we included 1,052 parents. More than half of the parents were positive toward the childhood COVID-19 vaccination (63%) while 10% were unsure. Higher parental hesitancy toward children COVID-19 vaccination among mothers, parents younger than 40 years, did not receive COVID-19 nor influenza vaccines, had higher educational levels, and parents who recovered from COVID-19 infection. Hesitancy was mainly driven by the novelty of the vaccines and the fear of serious adverse effects. Compared to the routine vaccination, parents were more hesitant toward COVID-19 vaccination (6 vs. 27%).

Conclusion: Generally, parents in Saudi Arabia were positive toward children's COVID-19 vaccination. Focused education to reassure hesitant parents on the safety of the vaccine is essential to achieve larger vaccination coverage.

Keywords: Saudi Arabia; childhood vaccination; coronavirus; hesitancy; vaccine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The parental hesitancy toward childhood COVID-19 vaccination (Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine Scale) as compared to the hesitancy toward routine childhood vaccination (VHS scale), among 1,052 parents in Saudi Arabia between June 18 to June 30, 2021.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The frequencies of endorsement of each item are categorized into hesitant (Category 4 and 5), positive (Category 1 and 2), or neutral (n = 1,052).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. COVID-19 Map - Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center (2021). Available online at: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html (accessed July 3, 2021).
    1. Dessie ZG, Zewotir T. Mortality-related risk factors of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 42 studies and 423,117 patients. BMC Infect Dis. (2021) 21:1–28. 10.1186/S12879-021-06536-3/FIGURES/10 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barry M, AlMohaya AE, AlHijji A, Akkielah L, AlRajhi A, Almajid F, et al. Clinical characteristics and outcome of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in a MERS-CoV endemic area. J Epidemiol Glob Health. (2020) 10:214–21. 10.2991/JEGH.K.200806.002 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alguwaihes AM, Al-Sofiani ME, Megdad M, Albader SS, Alsari MH, Alelayan A, et al. Diabetes and Covid-19 among hospitalized patients in Saudi Arabia: a single-centre retrospective study. Cardiovasc Diabetol. (2020) 2020:19. 10.1186/S12933-020-01184-4 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. McDonald I, Murray SM, Reynolds CJ, Altmann DM, Boyton RJ. Comparative systematic review and meta-analysis of reactogenicity, immunogenicity and efficacy of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. Npj Vaccines. (2021) 6:1–14. 10.1038/s41541-021-00336-1 - DOI - PMC - PubMed