Systematic review and meta-analysis of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine acceptance in parents of children aged 5–11
Why we did the systematic review
COVID-19 can cause significant illness in children. Vaccines for COVID-19 are safe and have many well-studied benefits. Despite these benefits, many caregivers of children aged 5 to 11 years old remain hesitant to have their child vaccinated. We conducted this review to better understand the reasons for vaccine non-acceptance and barriers to vaccination that are specific to children aged 5 to 11.
How we did the systematic review
Our team searched medical research databases and identified studies focusing on caregivers’ vaccine acceptance in children aged 5 to 11. Our team read through all the studies and identified those that met our inclusion criteria for analysis. We used a variety of statistical tests to compare the studies together and looked at differences related to where these studies took place (e.g. country), the rates of vaccine acceptance in the studies and characteristics associated with caregivers being hesitant to vaccinate their children.
What we found in the systematic review
We initially identified 1571 studies and based on our inclusion and exclusion criteria, ultimately included 30 of these studies in our review. The majority of these studies were completed in high income countries. When we combined data from all studies, we found the overall rate of vaccine acceptance in caregivers of children aged 5 to 11 was only 54%. Some factors associated with caregivers being more likely to vaccinate their children were parents already being vaccinated themselves for COVID-19 and higher parental education. Reasons parents were hesitant to vaccinate their children included concerns about the safety of the vaccine and perception children are less at risk for illness from COVID-19. The overall conclusion we drew from this study was that the proportion of caregivers who are accepting of COVID-19 vaccines in children aged 5 to 11 is low and there are many reasons contributing to parental vaccine hesitancy.
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.