Pediatricians’ perceptions, practices, and barriers regarding COVID-19 vaccine for children: A cross-sectional survey in Ontario, Canada

Ali, Yamna; Piché‐Renaud, Pierre‐Philippe; Karimi-Shahrbabak, Elahe; Farrar, Daniel; Fadaleh, Sarah Abu; Burey, Sharon; Morris, Shaun K

doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.03.041

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…In another study, the reasons why pediatricians did not recommend the vaccine were; "COVID-19 infection is not severe among children in this age group", "limited data on the long-term effects of COVID-19 vaccine in this age group" and "con-cerns about side effects such as myocarditis or pericarditis after COVID-19". [25] In our study, the reasons why pediatricians did not recommend COVID-19 vaccine for all children were similar to these studies.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

“…In a study conducted in Canada between February and March 2022 to investigate the opinions and practices of pediatricians regarding COVID-19 vaccination in children aged 5-11 years, 92% of the participants strongly recommended the COVID-19 vaccination for children aged 5-11 years. [ 25 ] In another study conducted by Steletou et al [ 26 ] in Greece at the end of 2021, it was reported that 92.6% of pediatricians recommended the COVID-19 vaccine to all children, 5.9% only to high-risk children, and 1.5% did not recommend COVID-19 vaccine to children. Similarly, pediatricians mostly recommended the COVID-19 vaccine to all children, but the rate of pediatricians who did not recommend the COVID-19 vaccine to children was found to be higher in our study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies conducted with both parents and healthcare professionals have reported that confidence in the vaccine is a very important factor in vaccination. [ 4 , 11 , 25 , 26 ] In a study exploring the attitudes of general practitioners, gynecologists, and pediatricians towards the COVID-19 vaccine and their confidence in vaccine safety in Germany, physicians with positive attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccine had high confidence in vaccine safety. [ 28 ] Similarly, in our study, those who thought that COVID-19 vaccine was safe for children were more likely to recommend the vaccine to all children.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Pediatricians About COVID-19 Vaccination to Children

Kara Elitok

2024

Sisli Etfal

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Objectives Achieving high vaccination rates is very important in the prevention of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as in other infectious diseases. This study aimed to evaluate pediatricians' knowledge, attitudes and behaviours about COVID-19 vaccination of children. Methods Our single-center, descriptive, cross-sectional, prospective study was conducted between September 20, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The sample consisted of 350 physicians who agreed to fill out the questionnaire voluntarily. Participants were asked 21 questions about their sociodemographic data, knowledge about COVID-19 vaccination of children, attitudes and behaviours via Google Forms. Results A total of 350 pediatricians, 72.6% of whom were women, participated in our study. 51.4% of the participants were working in a Training and Research Hospital, and 99.1% had received COVID-19 vaccination themselves. While 65.7% (n=230) of pediatricians recommended COVID-19 vaccination for all children, 27.7% (n=97) recommended it only for children in the risk group, and 6.6% (n=23) did not recommend COVID-19 vaccination for children. The most common reasons why pediatricians did not recommend the vaccine to all children were; 56.7% lack of sufficient clinical research on vaccination in children, 50% concerns about the long-term effects of the vaccine, 27.5% vaccine-related side effects. The most risk groups for which participants recommended vaccination were asthma (chronic lung disease) 84.6%, diabetes mellitus 72%, and immunodeficiency 69.7%. 68.9% of pediatricians knew that COVID-19 vaccine was used for children aged 12 years and older in Türkiye, and 60.9% thought that COVID-19 vaccine was safe for children. Those who thought that COVID-19 vaccine was safe for children were more likely to recommend the vaccine to children (p<0.001). When the answers given to the knowledge questions were analyzed, it was found that the knowledge level of those who did not recommend vaccination to children was lower than the others (p<0.001). Conclusion In the present study, pediatricians mostly recommend COVID-19 vaccine to children. The vaccine safety and the level of knowledge about COVID-19 vaccine are effective factors in recommending the vaccine. Therefore, we conclude that trainings to be organized for pediatricians about COVID-19 vaccine will increase the rate of recommending COVID-19 vaccine to children.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%