Parental intentions to vaccinate children against COVID-19: Findings from a U.S. National Survey
- PMID: 36404172
- PMCID: PMC9637509
- DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.11.001
Parental intentions to vaccinate children against COVID-19: Findings from a U.S. National Survey
Erratum in
-
Erratum to "Parental intentions to vaccinate children against COVID-19: Findings from a U.S. National Survey" [Vaccine 41(1) (2023) 101-108.Vaccine. 2023 Mar 24;41(13):2314-2315. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.01.065. Epub 2023 Feb 26. Vaccine. 2023. PMID: 36849341 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
Abstract
We examined parents' COVID-19 vaccination intentions for their children, reasons for not vaccinating, and the potential impact of a school/daycare vaccination requirement or pediatrician's recommendation on vaccination intentions. Two online surveys were conducted in June-July and September-October 2021, before pediatric COVID-19 vaccines were authorized for emergency use in children age < 12 years, with an internet-based, non-probability sample of U.S. adults. Respondents with children (age < 18 years) in the household were asked about their intention (likelihood) of vaccinating these children against COVID-19. Weighted Chi-square tests using a Rao-Scott correction were performed. Vaccinated (45.7 %) versus unvaccinated (6.9 %) parents were almost seven times more likely to have vaccinated their 12-17-year-old children against COVID-19. Approximately 58.4 % of respondents with unvaccinated children ages 2-11 years and 42.4 % of those with children < 2 years said they are "very" or "extremely likely" to vaccinate these children against COVID-19. Female parents were significantly more likely (p < .01 to p < .001) to express lower levels of COVID-19 vaccine intentions. Across all age groups of children unvaccinated against COVID-19, parental vaccine intentions increased with increased household income and education levels. COVID-19 vaccine side effects and safety concerns were primary reasons for not vaccinating children. Strategies including school vaccination requirements and recommendations from pediatricians were shown to increase parental COVID-19 vaccination intentions for some. More research is needed on factors that increase/hinder COVID-19 pediatric vaccine uptake.
Keywords: COVID-19; Parents and children; Pediatrician; Survey; Vaccine hesitancy; Vaccine intention; Vaccine requirements.
Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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.
References
-
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Authorizes Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccines for Children Down to 6 Months of Age. Available at: https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19.... Accessed August 9, 2022.
-
- Trujillo KL, Qu, H, Perlis, R, et al. The COVID States Project #81: child vaccination rate. doi: 10.31219/osf.io/npbrv.
-
- CDC COVID data tracker. Vaccination Trends by Age and Sex. Updated November 9, 2022. Accessed November 14, 2022. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-demographics-trends.
-
- Lopes, L, Hamel L, Sparks G, Montero, A, Presiado, M, Brodie M. COVID-19 vaccine monitor: July 2022. Kaiser Family Foundation. July 26, 2022. Accessed August 8, 2022. https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/poll-finding/kff-covid-19-vacci....