Factors Influencing Parent and Guardian Decisions on Vaccinating Their Children Against SARS-CoV-2: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

This qualitative analysis sought to explore factors that influenced parent/guardian intentions to vaccinate their children against SARS-CoV-2 in San Francisco, California, USA in order to inform San Francisco Department of Public Health’s (SFDPH) youth vaccine rollout program. 30-minute, semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with parents and guardians in either Spanish or English. Respondents shared their perspectives on vaccinating their children against SARS-CoV-2. Interviews were conducted over the telephone and recorded on Zoom. Participants (n = 40) were parents/guardians responding on behalf of their adolescent children (age 13+) and parents/guardians identified from the SFDPH COVID-19 testing database who tested for SARS-CoV-2 within the last 2 weeks. Interviews were conducted, audio recorded, transcribed, translated into English as appropriate, and rapidly analyzed in REDCap according to matrix analysis methodology to develop parent study themes. Perspectives on child vaccination were then explored through thematic analysis. Three themes were identified from the thematic analysis: (1) parental desires for children to return to school safely, (2) unclear messaging and information on COVID-19 prevention and vaccination, and (3) consideration of child’s desires or opinions on receiving the vaccine. This study highlights specific factors influencing parent/guardian decisions on whether to vaccinate their children against SARS-CoV-2. The analysis also illustrates a potential role for children to play in influencing household vaccine decision-making.

Perspective Chapter: The Most Natural Possible Vaccine Administered in the Most Natural Possible Way – Noninvasive over Injectable Vaccine Delivery Routes

“…The numerous advantages of oral vaccines over needle-based vaccines include their safety, comfort, convenience, lower production cost, efficient administration, and the generation of minimum disposables. Compared with injectable vaccines, oral vaccine pills can be safely self-administered, reduce the number of hospital visits and the need for specialized training of healthcare providers, activate mucosal-as well as systemic cell-mediated immunity, have greater acceptance and customer compliance rates, have increased shelf-life stability, minimize greenhouse gas emissions, and minimize overall vaccine-related healthcare costs [2,[55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62]…”

“…Greater acceptance (due to safety and comfort) and compliance. Enhanced vaccine acceptance and adherence in routine prophylactic and reactive outbreak vaccination programs results in more widespread vaccine distribution and access, particularly in resource-limited settings [2,56,57].…”

“…High vaccine hesitancy rates surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines [57,[133][134][135][136]] could indicate how the public will react to future, novel vaccination methods [137,138]. An encouraging recent study found that among adults, approximately 10% of COVID-19 hesitancy cases could be attributed to a fear of blood, needles, or injury during injection [139].…”