Confident and altruistic – parents’ motives to vaccinate their children against COVID-19: a cross-sectional online survey in a Swiss vaccination centre

Abstract

AIMS OF THE STUDY: In Switzerland, COVID-19 vaccines have been approved for children aged 5–11 years only recently, whereas vaccination of adolescents aged 12 years and older was approved in early summer 2021. Although the disease burden in children and adolescents has been reasonably mild, they can transmit COVID-19 to others, thus vaccinating this age group may help to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. The main objective was to investigate the association between five psychological antecedents of vaccination hesitancy in COVID-19 immunised parents and their intention to have their child vaccinated against COVID-19. Further, we examined if parental vaccination history and conviction of the benefits of Swiss paediatric vaccination recommendations are associated with child vaccination intention, and where parents would like the vaccination performed. METHODS: A cross-sectional anonymous online survey in the COVID-19 vaccination centre Winterthur was conducted between 16 May and 30 September 2021. Individuals receiving COVID-19 vaccines in the vaccination centre were invited to participate. All individuals who participated in the survey after their first dose with children under 16 years were included in the analysis (n = 1318). Using multivariable logistic regression, the association between our main predictor variables, psychological antecedents (confidence, constraints, complacency, calculation, collective responsibility) measured by the validated 5C scale, and parents’ intention to have their child vaccinated against COVID-19 was analysed, adjusted for parental vaccination history, conviction of benefits of vaccination recommendations for children and adults, children’s age group, sociodemographic factors, and time-point of vaccine authorisation for 12–16-year-olds. RESULTS: 58.7% of the parents intended to vaccinate their child against COVID-19. Their preferred vaccination location for their child was the paediatrician or family doctor. Three psychological antecedents were associated with vaccination intention: confidence (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.33, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.00–1.76; borderline significant), calculation (AOR 0.68, 95% CI 0.58–0.81), and collective responsibility (AOR 1.93, 95% CI 1.47–2.52). Influenza vaccination (AOR 1.53, 95% CI 1.15–2.03) and conviction of the benefits of the Swiss vaccination recommendations for children and adolescents were independently associated with parental vaccination intention. CONCLUSIONS: Campaigns on COVID-19 vaccination for children may increase the intention of parents to have a child vaccinated when they address collective responsibility and calculation (weighing risks and benefits), independent of the conviction of the benefits of the vaccination recommendations, which was also a significant factor. The findings further show that parents of younger children favour their paediatrician or family doctor over vaccination centres as the vaccination setting for their child, an important finding for paediatric COVID-19 vaccination strategies.

COVID-19 Vaccine for Children: Vaccination Willingness of Parents and Its Associated Factors—A Network Analysis

“…Based on the centrality indices, it was shown that, among all variables, collective responsibility displayed the most connections to all other variables. Similar findings have been found in past research as well [ 63 , 64 , 65 ]. Overall, these findings illustrate the determining role of an internal feeling of collective responsibility in vaccine acceptance.…”

Parental willingness to have children vaccinated against COVID-19 in Geneva, Switzerland: a cross-sectional population-based study

“…Our findings are also in line with those of previous studies showing that parental willingness to vaccinate their children decreased progressively with the age of the child, from 84.0% for parents of children aged 16-17 years to 19.5% for parents of children aged 5-11 years [8,[34][35][36]. However, in the studies from the US and Canada, these decreases were not as pronounced as in our findings [35,36].…”

“…In a sample of Swiss Germanspeaking parents, 58.7% reported their intention to have their children vaccinated. However, this result might be overestimated because parents were recruited at a vaccination centre [34]. 1 Some data are excluded due to very low numbers.…”

Worldwide Estimation of Parental Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccine for Their Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Trust in the COVID-19 vaccine [ 59 , 98 , 121 , 126 , 128 , 142 ], trust in governments [ 104 , 121 ], and trust to health system [ 60 , 63 , 72 , 80 , 89 ] were also contributing factors.…”

“…Obtaining influenza immunization was a positive contributing factor for parents to accept their children’s COVID-19 vaccination [ 57 , 59 , 65 , 68 , 77 , 86 , 104 , 116 , 121 , 140 ].…”