SARS-CoV-2 vaccine acceptance and uptake among caregivers of children 5–11 years of age: a cross-sectional survey
Why we did the cross-sectional survey
We conducted this project to assess caregivers’ vaccine acceptance and uptake for children aged 5–11 years in Toronto. Our goal was to identify how to best target educational and public health interventions, identify parental concerns that need to be addressed to increase vaccine confidence, and ultimately develop and evaluate reliable sources of evidence on COVID-19 vaccines tailored to the needs of school-aged children and their families in a local context.
How we did the cross-sectional survey
We conducted a multi-language, self-administered, cross-sectional survey and sent it to caregivers from 660 schools and two community health centres in the Greater Toronto Area from April 5 to July 4, 2022. The survey was available in eight languages and collected information on socio-demographic characteristics, baseline acceptance of routine childhood immunizations and influenza vaccines, intent to vaccinate children in the family against COVID-19 and current vaccine status for parents/respondents who are age-eligible.
What we found in the cross-sectional survey
Of the 807 caregivers surveyed, 93% had received at least two doses of the vaccine, but only 77% had a child 5–11 years old who had received at least one dose. Caregivers who were older than 40 years of age, who were vaccinated against COVID-19 themselves, those living in areas with higher overall vaccine coverage, and those whose children had received at least one influenza vaccine in the past two years were more likely to accept the COVID-19 vaccine for their children. Caregivers reported seeking information on COVID-19 mostly from public health resources, government organizations, social media, and family doctors or paediatricians. The most common reasons for not vaccinating children were concerns about long-term side effects, wanting to wait until there is more experience with vaccinating children and concerns that vaccines were developed too quickly.
How we have shared our findings
The results of this study have been presented at the International Pediatric Association Congress in February 2023 in India, the Canadian Immunization Conference in April 2023 in Ottawa, the European Society of Paediatric Infectious Diseases in May 2023 in Portugal, and the Canadian Paediatric Society’s Annual Conference in May 2023 Halifax.