COVID-19 vaccine perceptions and hesitancy amongst parents of school-aged children during the pediatric vaccine rollout

Alexandra Byrne; Lindsay A Thompson; Stephanie L Filipp; Kathleen Ryan

doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.09.090

COVID-19 vaccine perceptions and hesitancy amongst parents of school-aged children during the pediatric vaccine rollout

Vaccine. 2022 Nov 2;40(46):6680-6687. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.09.090. Epub 2022 Oct 5.

Authors

Alexandra Byrne¹, Lindsay A Thompson², Stephanie L Filipp³, Kathleen Ryan⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States; Now at Nicklaus Children's Hospital, Miami, FL, United States. Electronic address: Alexandra.Byrne@NicklausHealth.org.
² Department of Pediatrics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States; Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States; Now at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, Winston-Salem, NC, United States.
³ Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.

Abstract

Background: The United States has the highest number of total cases and deaths due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) worldwide (Johns Hopkins COVID Dashboard, 2021). Despite COVID-19 vaccine availability, uptake in the United States has been slow and vaccine hesitancy has been a significant barrier to achieving widespread vaccine uptake. Understanding determinants of vaccine acceptance is essential to implement successful population health interventions to increase COVID-19 vaccination.

Methods: We developed an anonymous cross-sectional parent survey to assess factors associated with parent and child COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and hesitancy during the initial pediatric vaccine rollout amongst adolescents 16 years +. The survey was sent via email to 25,308 parents registered to the Alachua County Public School System in May 2021 and remained active until July 2021.

Findings: There were a total of 2,620 survey responses. Overall, 31.5 % of parents with children ages 16 years + reported their child had received the COVID-19 vaccine, 65.2 % reported their (eligible) child had not received the vaccine, and 3.3 % reported their child was scheduled for the vaccine. A majority of parents (60.9 %) reported they planned to vaccinate all of their children once the COVID-19 vaccine was available for their children's age. COVID-19 vaccine uptake in adolescents ages 16 + reported by Hispanic and White parents was two times higher than that reported by Black parents. Parent COVID-19 and influenza vaccine uptake were associated with increased child COVID-19 vaccination. The most commonly reported reasons why parents chose not to have their child vaccinated against COVID-19 were concerns about long-term negative side effects (75.7 %) and a negative reaction (56.5 %). Medical providers were reported as the most trusted source of information.

Conclusion: Our study provides insight into determinants of vaccine acceptance, vaccine hesitancy, and trusted sources of information that may be helpful to develop targeted interventions to increase youth COVID-19 vaccination.

Keywords: Adolescent; COVID-19; Child; Coronavirus; Hesitancy; Survey; Vaccination; Vaccine.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
COVID-19 Vaccines
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Child
Cross-Sectional Studies
Humans
Influenza Vaccines* / therapeutic use
Parents
United States
Vaccination

Substances

COVID-19 Vaccines
Influenza Vaccines