Intent among Parents to Vaccinate Children before Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccine Recommendations, Minnesota and Los Angeles County, California-May-September 2021.

2022-09-01

Suvada, Kara A

Quan, Stuart F

Weaver, Matthew D

Sreedhara, Meera

Czeisler, Mark É

Como-Sabetti, Kathy

Lynfield, Ruth

Grounder, Prabhu

Traub, Elizabeth

Amoon, Aryana

Ladva, Chandresh N

Howard, Mark E

Czeisler, Charles A

Rajaratnam, Shantha M W

Ekwueme, Donatus U

Flannery, Brendan

Lane, Rashon I

COVID-19

adolescents

parents

school

vaccination

Journal Article

0000-0002-9474-7679

0000-0003-3100-7347

0000-0002-4587-9421

0000-0002-3521-2543

0000-0002-7408-1849

0000-0001-5614-5928

10.3390/vaccines10091441

Objectives: This study assessed the associations between parent intent to have their child receive the COVID-19 vaccination, and demographic factors and various child activities, including attendance at in-person education or childcare. Methods: Persons undergoing COVID-19 testing residing in Minnesota and Los Angeles County, California with children aged <12 years completed anonymous internet-based surveys between 10 May and 6 September 2021 to assess factors associated with intention to vaccinate their child. Factors influencing the parents' decision to have their child attend in-person school or childcare were examined. Estimated adjusted odds rations (AORs, 95% CI) were computed between parents' intentions regarding children's COVID-19 vaccination and participation in school and extra-curricular activities using multinomial logistic regression. Results: Compared to parents intending to vaccinate their children (n = 4686 [77.2%]), those undecided (n = 874 [14.4%]) or without intention to vaccinate (n = 508 [8.4%]) tended to be younger, non-White, less educated, and themselves not vaccinated against COVID-19. Their children more commonly participated in sports (aOR:1.51 1.17-1.95) and in-person faith or community activities (aOR:4.71 3.62-6.11). A greater proportion of parents without intention to vaccinate (52.5%) indicated that they required no more information to make their decision in comparison to undecided parents (13.2%). They further indicated that additional information regarding vaccine safety and effectiveness would influence their decision. COVID-19 mitigation measures were the most common factors influencing parents' decision to have their child attend in-person class or childcare. Conclusions: Several demographic and socioeconomic factors are associated with parents' decision whether to vaccinate their <12-year-old children for COVID-19. Child participation in in-person activities was associated with parents' intentions not to vaccinate. Tailored communications may be useful to inform parents' decisions regarding the safety and effectiveness of vaccination.

link

Vaccines 2022; 10(9): 1441

Vaccines

2076-393X