Parental Willingness and Associated Factors of Pediatric Vaccination in the Era of COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

A significant decline in pediatric vaccination uptake due to the COVID-19 pandemic has been documented. Little is known about the parental willingness and associated factors of pediatric vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic. An extensive literature search in the databases of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and EBSCOhost were conducted. A total of 20 eligible studies published from 2020–2022 were included for systematic summary by a thematic analysis, among which 12 studies were included in a meta-analysis conducted with R-4.2.1. The prevalence of parental willingness to childhood/routine vaccination and seasonal influenza vaccination was 58.6% (95%CI 2.8–98.6%) and 47.3% (95%CI 25.3–70.5%). Moreover, there is no sufficient evidence of significant change in parental willingness to childhood/routine vaccination, human papillomavirus vaccination, or pneumococcal conjugate vaccination during the pandemic. However, a significant increase in parental willingness to vaccinate their children against seasonal influenza was found. In addition to the factors of parental vaccination willingness/hesitancy that are well-studied in literature, children/parents’ history of COVID-19 and children’s perceived vulnerability to COVID-19 were associated with parental willingness. Developing synergetic strategies to promote COVID-19 vaccination together with other pediatric vaccination is warranted during the pandemic. This may help to improve and/or catch up the vaccine uptake of children during and/or after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Perspectives Associated with Human Papillomavirus Vaccination in Adults: A Qualitative Study

“…Although declining overall vaccination rates have been reported in some studies, a recent meta-analysis of 27 pandemic-era studies (January 2019-December 2021) found there was increased intention to vaccinate across age, sex, and occupation [31,32]. This effect was also seen in parental willingness to consent to vaccination [35]. Our study indicates similarly held views among adults in Tennessee, with participants noting that seeing the effects of COVID-19 in the population at large and within their own social networks made them more cognizant of the dangers of infectious diseases and potential benefits of immunization.…”

Respiratory Syncytial Vaccination: Parents’ Willingness to Vaccinate Their Children

“…In the case of a new vaccine against RSV, therefore, it is necessary to plan educational interventions aimed at HCWs, especially pediatricians, to enable them to learn the necessary information to be transferred to parents. Examples of educational strategies could be face-to-face and online courses to increase vaccine knowledge or offering interactive approaches with roleplay sections to support comfort level and perceived effectiveness when counseling vaccine-hesitant parents [38].…”

Screening for High-Risk Human Papillomavirus Reveals HPV52 and HPV58 among Pediatric and Adult Patient Saliva Samples

“…This information is also important to oral healthcare and public health professionals, as recent evidence has demonstrated that vaccine hesitancy (particularly related to HPV among pediatric patients) has been increasing in recent years despite strong evidence for the efficacy and safety of both the quadrivalent and nine-valent HPV vaccines [ 38 , 39 , 40 ]. In fact, other recent evidence has also documented the increase in vaccine hesitancy and skepticism about vaccine safety and efficacy over recent years among children, adolescents, and their parents [ 41 , 42 ].…”

“…Due to the paucity of information regarding HPV52 and HPV58 prevalence among any patient population, this study provides significant evidence that these high-risk strains are present among both pediatric and adult populations [ 32 , 33 ]. In addition, these data also demonstrated that the majority of samples with HPV were derived from patients within the recommended HPV vaccination range, providing significant information for health professionals and public health advocates on the urgent need to disseminate current knowledge about the benefits of the nine-valent HPV vaccine and the potential risks of avoidance for this low-cost and effective prevention method [ 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 ].…”