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Unvaccinated parents highly unlikely to OK COVID vaccine for their kids
Filed Under:
COVID-19
Mary Van Beusekom | News Writer | CIDRAP News
| Dec 07, 2021
A research letter yesterday in JAMA Pediatrics shows that 25.6% of a sample of US parents responding to an online survey said they were hesitant to vaccinate themselves against COVID-19, and these parents were highly unlikely to approve of COVID vaccination for their children—by a wide margin.
In the ongoing CHASING COVID nationwide cohort study, City University of New York researchers analyzed responses from the June 2021 survey of 1,162 parents of 1,651 children 2 to 17 years old.
Willingness to have their children vaccinated varied from 8.3% to 13.9% in vaccine-hesitant parents, depending on the age of the child, compared with 64.9% to 86.4% among parents who had already gotten the COVID vaccine or were willing to receive it.
Respondents were categorized as vaccine hesitant if they said they would delay or never get vaccinated themselves or as vaccine willing/vaccinated if they were or planned to be vaccinated. Average parent age was 40.6 years.
Experience with COVID tied to vaccine willingness
Of all parents, 74.4% were already vaccinated or willing to be vaccinated, and 25.6% were vaccine hesitant. According to the parents, 48% of children 12 to 15 years old and 58% of those 16 to 17 years had already received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
Vaccine or vaccine-willing parents were much more likely than vaccine-hesitant parents to have had their children vaccinated or planned to as soon as they became eligible (64.9% vs 8.3% for children aged 2 to 4 years, 77.6% vs 12.1% for those 5 to 11, 81.3% vs 13.9% for those 12 to 15, and 86.4% vs 12.7% for those 16 or 17).
Yet 10% of vaccinated and vaccine-willing parents indicated that they would not immediately vaccinate their children. The most cited reason for their hesitancy was concern about vaccine-related long-term adverse effects in children.
Black and Hispanic parents were less willing to immediately have their children vaccinated than White, female, younger, and non–college-educated parents.
Parents with school-aged children were more willing to vaccinate them if they currently attended school remotely part- or full-time than if they attended in person. Likewise, parents were more willing to vaccinate if they had been infected with COVID-19 or knew someone who died of their infection.
Enormous implications for in-person schools
The study authors noted that parental hesitancy to have their children vaccinated against COVID-19 differs by parental race, sex, education level, experience with COVID-19, and their child's age.
"Perhaps unsurprisingly, parents who were hesitant to be vaccinated themselves were hesitant to vaccinate their children; however, some vaccinated parents also reported concerns about vaccinating children," the researchers wrote.
Parents' vaccine hesitancy has enormous implications for schools that have resumed in-classroom instruction because they may have to require regular COVID-19 testing, strict face-covering protocols, and physical distancing in order to reduce in-school viral transmission, the researchers said.
"Transparent messaging by public health agencies about [the] safety of COVID-19 vaccines among children is critical to increase vaccine uptake and address parents' concerns about vaccine adverse effects," they concluded. "Future research should focus on changes in vaccination uptake when COVID-19 vaccines receive full approval and younger age groups become eligible for vaccination."
Unvaccinated parents highly unlikely to OK COVID vaccine for their kids
Filed Under:
COVID-19
Mary Van Beusekom | News Writer | CIDRAP News
| Dec 07, 2021
A research letter yesterday in JAMA Pediatrics shows that 25.6% of a sample of US parents responding to an online survey said they were hesitant to vaccinate themselves against COVID-19, and these parents were highly unlikely to approve of COVID vaccination for their children—by a wide margin.
In the ongoing CHASING COVID nationwide cohort study, City University of New York researchers analyzed responses from the June 2021 survey of 1,162 parents of 1,651 children 2 to 17 years old.
Willingness to have their children vaccinated varied from 8.3% to 13.9% in vaccine-hesitant parents, depending on the age of the child, compared with 64.9% to 86.4% among parents who had already gotten the COVID vaccine or were willing to receive it.
Respondents were categorized as vaccine hesitant if they said they would delay or never get vaccinated themselves or as vaccine willing/vaccinated if they were or planned to be vaccinated. Average parent age was 40.6 years.
Experience with COVID tied to vaccine willingness
Of all parents, 74.4% were already vaccinated or willing to be vaccinated, and 25.6% were vaccine hesitant. According to the parents, 48% of children 12 to 15 years old and 58% of those 16 to 17 years had already received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
Vaccine or vaccine-willing parents were much more likely than vaccine-hesitant parents to have had their children vaccinated or planned to as soon as they became eligible (64.9% vs 8.3% for children aged 2 to 4 years, 77.6% vs 12.1% for those 5 to 11, 81.3% vs 13.9% for those 12 to 15, and 86.4% vs 12.7% for those 16 or 17).
Yet 10% of vaccinated and vaccine-willing parents indicated that they would not immediately vaccinate their children. The most cited reason for their hesitancy was concern about vaccine-related long-term adverse effects in children.
Black and Hispanic parents were less willing to immediately have their children vaccinated than White, female, younger, and non–college-educated parents.
Parents with school-aged children were more willing to vaccinate them if they currently attended school remotely part- or full-time than if they attended in person. Likewise, parents were more willing to vaccinate if they had been infected with COVID-19 or knew someone who died of their infection.
Enormous implications for in-person schools
The study authors noted that parental hesitancy to have their children vaccinated against COVID-19 differs by parental race, sex, education level, experience with COVID-19, and their child's age.
"Perhaps unsurprisingly, parents who were hesitant to be vaccinated themselves were hesitant to vaccinate their children; however, some vaccinated parents also reported concerns about vaccinating children," the researchers wrote.
Parents' vaccine hesitancy has enormous implications for schools that have resumed in-classroom instruction because they may have to require regular COVID-19 testing, strict face-covering protocols, and physical distancing in order to reduce in-school viral transmission, the researchers said.
"Transparent messaging by public health agencies about [the] safety of COVID-19 vaccines among children is critical to increase vaccine uptake and address parents' concerns about vaccine adverse effects," they concluded. "Future research should focus on changes in vaccination uptake when COVID-19 vaccines receive full approval and younger age groups become eligible for vaccination."