A nationwide survey study of more than 2,000 US parents of children aged 6 months to 4 years reveals that less than half intend to have their child vaccinated against COVID-19 and that only one-fifth say they plan to do so within 3 months of eligibility.The research, from a team led by University of Iowa investigators for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was published yesterday in JAMA Network Open.47% said they would wait 3 months or moreThe authors fielded an online survey of 2,031 US parents of children 6 months to 4 years old about their intention to vaccinate their child against COVID-19 from Feb 2 to 10, 2022, 4 months before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) extended eligibility to this age-group.
The survey was designed to inform the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices' deliberations and recommendations for COVID-19 vaccination of young children on Jun 17, 2022.The sample was 54.8% male and 66.2% White, with large shares being age 25 to 49 years (85.6%), having at least a bachelor's degree (40.0%), living in a city (82.9%) or in a southern state (43.4%), and having received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine (59.8%).Of all participants, 45.6% said that they would "definitely" or "probably" have their child vaccinated once they became eligible, but only 19.0% said they would do so within 3 months of their eligibility, while 47.3% would wait longer, and 33.7% said they didn't know if or when they would seek vaccination.Respondents least likely to vaccinate their child were women rather than men (38.8% vs 51.3%), White versus Hispanic (43.2% vs 53.2%), less educated (a high school diploma or less, 37.4%; some college or a trade school certificate, 37.2%, vs a bachelor's