Adverse events among early caregivers' COVID-19 vaccination correlated inversely with intention to vaccinate their children

Authors

R D. Goldman, The Pediatric Research in Emergency Therapeutics (PRETx) Program, Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, and BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, 4480 Oak Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Electronic address: rgoldman@cw.bc.ca.
R J. Hart, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Louisville, 571 S Floyd St, Louisville, KY 40202, United States.
J N. Bone, Research Informatics, BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, 4480 Oak Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
M Seiler, Emergency Department, University Children's Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, Steinwiesstrasse 75, 8032, Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: michelle.seiler@kispi.uzh.ch.
P G. Olson, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Emergency and Transport Medicine, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, 4650 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027, United States.
K Keitel, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Inselspital University Hospital of Bern, Bern, Freiburgstrasse 15, 3010 Bern, Switzerland. Electronic address: kristina.keitel@insel.ch.
S Manzano, Department of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Geneva Children's Hospital, Geneva University Hospitals, and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland - 6, rue Willy-Donze, 1205 Geneve, Switzerland. Electronic address: sergio.manzano@hcuge.ch.
G Gualco, Pediatric Emergency Department, Pediatric Institute of Italian part of Switzerland, Ticino, Switzerland, Via Cimo 101, 6992 Bioggio, Switzerland.
D Krupik, Pediatric Emergency Unit, Ziv Medical Center, and Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Safed, Israel.
S Schroter, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics. University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California and Rady Children's Hospital San Diego, San Diego, CA. 3020 Children's Way, MC 5075, San Diego 92123, CA, United States.
R M. Weigert, Department of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Children's Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 2525 Chicago AVE S STE 32-1488, Minneapolis, MN 55404, United States. Electronic address: Rachel.weigert@childrensmn.org.
S Chung, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, OR 97239, United States. Electronic address: chungsu@ohsu.edu.
G C. Thompson, Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine, Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Nina Muhammad, Advocate Health - MidwestFollow
P Shah, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, 1575 NE Expy NE, Atlanta, GA 30329, United States.
N O. Gaucher, Department of Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, CHU Sainte-Justine, 3175 Ch Cote Sainte-Catherine, Montreal, Quebec H3T1C5, Canada. Electronic address: nathalie.orr.gaucher@umontreal.ca.
M M. Lunoe, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 4401 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15224, United States of America. Electronic address: maren.lunoe@chp.edu.
M Evers, Division of Pediatric Pediatric Emergency Medicine, UH Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, 11100 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH 44106, United States of America. Electronic address: megan.evers@uhhospitals.org.
C Pharisa Rochat, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Fribourg Hospital HFR, Chem. des Pensionnats 2-6, 1752 Villars-sur-Glâne, Switzerland.
C E. Nelson, Division of Emergency Medicine, Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, DE, 1600 Rockland Rd Wilmington, DE 19803, United States. Electronic address: courtney.nelson@nemours.org.
M Gal, Pediatric Emergency Department, Kaplan Medical Centre, Derech Pasternak 1, Rehovot, Israel.
S H. Baumer-Mouradian, Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 W Watertown Plank Rd, Milwaukee, WI 53226, United States.

Recommended Citation

Goldman RD, Hart RJ, Bone JN, et al. Adverse events among early caregivers' COVID-19 vaccination correlated inversely with intention to vaccinate their children. Vaccine. Published online March 22, 2025. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2025.127001

Affiliations

Advocate Children's Hospital, Oak Lawn

Abstract

Objectives:Vaccine hesitancy increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. We evaluated if manifestation of adverse events when caregivers received their vaccine was associated with their willingness to vaccinate their children.

Methods:A multicenter, cross-sectional, multi-lingual survey of caregivers presenting to 19 pediatric Emergency Departments in the USA, Canada, Israel, and Switzerland early during the early stage of the pandemic, before vaccines for children were available. We asked caregivers if they were vaccinated against COVID-19, to report any side effects and if they would give vaccine to their child. We categorized all reported side effects and report the most common ones. We report willingness to vaccinate based on child's age.

Results:Of 4261 caregivers, mean caregiver age was 38.3 years, 2893 (68.3 %) mothers, 3108 (73.3 %) greater than high school education. 43.6 % reported side effects, 35.7 % reported no side effects and 20.7 % were unvaccinated. The lowest rate of caregivers planning to vaccinate their children was the unvaccinated (6.9 %) and the highest was among caregivers who did not report any side effects (74.4 %). Caregivers with no reported side effects after vaccination were more likely to vaccinate their children compared to those that had some side effects (aOR of 1.34, 1.52 and 2.14 for ages <5, 5-11 and ≥12 years, respectively). Reporting general illness/feeling unwell, experiencing weakness, and breathing difficulty were associated with caregivers unlikely to plan to vaccinate their children. The OR to vaccinate children for each additional side effect was 0.86, 95 %CI = 0.78-0.95, p = 0.004, representing a decrease of 14 % in the odds of planning to vaccinate for each additional side effect.

Conclusions:Side effects experienced by caregivers are associated with their intention to vaccinate their children. Building of trust in vaccines, including communicating risks and benefits in the context of caregiver's experience, is important and may help enhance rate of vaccination of children.

Type

Article

PubMed ID

40121734