Parents’ Decisions to Vaccinate Children against COVID-19: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Since 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in sickness, hospitalizations, and deaths of the old and young and impacted global social and economy activities. Vaccination is one of the most important and efficient ways to protect against the COVID-19 virus. In a review of the literature on parents’ decisions to vaccinate their children, we found that widespread vaccination was hampered by vaccine hesitancy, especially for children who play an important role in the coronavirus transmission in both family and school. To analyze parent vaccination decision-making for children, our review of the literature on parent attitudes to vaccinating children, identified the objective and subjective influencing factors in their vaccination decision. We found that the median rate of parents vaccinating their children against COVID-19 was 59.3% (IQR 48.60~73.90%). The factors influencing parents’ attitudes towards child vaccination were heterogeneous, reflecting country-specific factors, but also displaying some similar trends across countries, such as the education level of parents. The leading reason in the child vaccination decision was to protect children, family and others; and the fear of side effects and safety was the most important reason in not vaccinating children. Our study informs government and health officials about appropriate vaccination policies and measures to improve the vaccination rate of children and makes specific recommendations on enhancing child vaccinate rates.

Children’s rates of COVID-19 vaccination as reported by parents, vaccine hesitancy, and determinants of COVID-19 vaccine uptake among children: a multi-country study from the Eastern Mediterranean Region

“…This finding is consistent with a previous study which showed that undergraduate parents are more enthusiastic to vaccinate children than parents with higher education [ 12 , 28 , 31 ]. This finding is also congruent with previous studies which concluded that parents’ educational level is one of the determinants of willingness to vaccinate children [ 20 , 32 ].…”

“…For example, almost half of parents who believe that COVID-19 vaccines are safe on children had vaccinated their children. This result is similar to the rates found in a previous scoping review [ 32 ]. On the other hand, only one-fifth of parents who don’t trust safety of COVID-19 vaccines on children had vaccinated their children.…”

COVID-19 Vaccination Hesitancy among Healthcare Workers—A Review

“…This contrasts with studies of the general population, where parents were less likely to vaccinate compared to non-parents [126,127]. Among parents, being an HCW is associated with a willingness to vaccinate children [128,129]. This has been observed among the general public and may be related to socioeconomic factors [130].…”

Iraqi Parents’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices towards Vaccinating Their Children: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Although the majority of the parents who participated in a Brazilian study were willing to accept COVID-19 immunization for their children, more than half were concerned about serious side effects of COVID-19 vaccines and one third were concerned about their safety [ 8 ]. Furthermore, a literature review found that the main reasons for parents’ hesitancy about vaccinating their children against COVID-19 were fears of side effects and safety concerns [ 48 ]. Moreover, concerns about the safety profile of COVID-19 vaccines has been identified as a factor in vaccination hesitancy among the general population [ 49 ], the elderly [ 50 ], and pharmacy students [ 51 ].…”