Willingness to vaccinate children against COVID-19 declined during the pandemic
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, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Electronic address: rgoldman@cw.bc.ca.
R J. Hart, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA.
J N. Bone, Research Informatics, BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.Follow
M Seiler, Emergency Department, University Children's Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
P G. Olson, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Emergency and Transport Medicine, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
K Keitel, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Inselspital University Hospital of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
S Manzano, Department of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Geneva Children's Hospital, Geneva University Hospitals, and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
G Gualco, Pediatric Emergency Department, Pediatric Institute of Italian part of Switzerland, Ticino, 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, USA.
R M. Weigert, Department of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Children's Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
S Chung, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA.Follow
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 Aurora HealthFollow
P Shah, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, Texas, USA.
N O. Gaucher, Department of Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, CHU Sainte-Justine, 3175 Ch Cote Sainte-Catherine, Montreal, Canada.
M Hou, 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, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
J Griffiths, 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, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
M M. Lunoe, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
M Evers, Division of Pediatric Pediatric Emergency Medicine, UH Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, 11100 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH, USA.
C Pharisa Rochat, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Fribourg Hospital HFR, Fribourg, Switzerland.
C E. Nelson, Division of Emergency Medicine, Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, Wilmington, DE, USA.
M Gal, Pediatric Emergency Department, Kaplan Medical Centre, Rehovot, Israel.
S H. Baumer-Mouradian, Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA.Follow
Recommended Citation
Goldman RD, Hart RJ, Bone JN, et al. Willingness to vaccinate children against COVID-19 declined during the pandemic. Vaccine. 2023;41(15):2495-2502. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.02.069
Abstract
Objectives: To document the level of vaccine hesitancy in caregivers' of children younger than 12 years of age over the course of the pandemic in Pediatric Emergency Departments (ED). Study design Ongoing multicenter, cross-sectional survey of caregivers presenting to 19 pediatric EDs in the USA, Canada, Israel, and Switzerland during first months of the pandemic (phase1), when vaccines were approved for adults (phase2) and most recently when vaccines were approved for children (phase3).
Results: Willingness to vaccinate rate declined over the study period (59.7%, 56.1% and 52.1% in the three phases). Caregivers who are fully vaccinated, who have higher education, and those worried their child had COVID-19 upon arrival to the ED, were more likely to plan to vaccinate in all three phases. Mothers were less likely to vaccinate early in the pandemic, but this hesitancy attenuated in later phases. Older caregivers were more willing to vaccinate, and caregivers of older children were less likely to vaccinate their children in phase 3. During the last phase, willingness to vaccinate was lowest in those who had a primary care provider but did not rely on their advice for medical decisions (34%). Those with no primary care provider and those who do and rely on their medical advice, had similar rates of willingness to vaccinate (55.1% and 52.1%, respectively).
Conclusions: COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is widespread and growing over time, and public health measures should further try to leverage identified factors associated with hesitancy in order to enhance vaccination rates among children.
Affiliations
Advocate Children's Hospital