Parental hesitancy towards vaccinating their children with a booster dose against COVID-19: Real-world evidence from Taizhou, China

• Published in: Journal of infection and public health Vol. 15; no. 9; pp. 1006 - 1012
• Main Authors: Huang, Li-Li, Yang, Yu-Pei, Mao, Hui-ping, Hu, Wei-wei, Jiang, Yan-hong, Jiesisibieke, Zhu Liduzi, Tung, Tao-Hsin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2022; Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences; Elsevier
• Subjects: Children; China; COVID-19; Original; Parental vaccine-hesitancy; Vaccine boosters; COVID-19; Parental vaccine-hesitancy; Children; China; Vaccine boosters
• ISSN: 1876-0341; 1876-035X; 1876-035X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jiph.2022.08.002

Parental vaccine-hesitancy can lead to delays or refusal to vaccinate children despite the availability of vaccines. This is a population-based, cross-sectional study investigating whether parents in China are hesitant to vaccinate their children with a COVID-19 vaccine booster. Parents in Taizhou, China, responded to a self-reported online questionnaire on their hesitancy to vaccinate their children with a COVID-19 vaccine booster. Of the 1252 parents who were invited to answer the structured questionnaire, 514 (41.1%) samples had valid data for data analysis. A total of 41.8% of participants were hesitant to give their children a COVID-19 vaccine booster. After adjusting for confounders, parental gender (female vs. male parent, OR=0.56 95% CI: 0.32–0.87), parental opinion (yes vs. no, OR=0.17, 95% CI: 0.09–0.30), parental attitudes (yes vs. no, OR=0.28, 95% CI: 0.16–0.50), the presence of people around them who are generally hesitant to receive COVID-19 booster vaccines for children (yes vs. no, OR=0.14, 95%CI: 0.08–0.23), the individual hesitancy of people around them to administer booster COVID-19 vaccines to children (yes vs. no, OR=0.02, 95%CI: 0.02–0.22), and parents’ hesitancy to receive a booster vaccine for their children showed significant correlation. The disparity of factors related to booster vaccine-hesitancy for children between fathers and mothers was also found. We found that a moderate proportion of parents reported that they were hesitant to give their children a COVID-19 vaccine booster. The results suggest that an in-depth, dynamic assessment and further health education planning are necessary to reduce Chinese parents’ hesitancy to vaccinate their children. •A significant proportion of parents are hesitant to vaccinate their kids, even if they had been vaccinated themselves.•l Parents’disapproval of their children’s booster vaccination strongly influenced their vaccine-hesitancy.•Influenced by gender, mothers had a greater, statistically significant effect on vaccine-hesitancy than fathers.•Mothers should strengthen their attitude support for their children’s COVID-19 vaccine booster vaccination.