Background COVID-19 vaccination program for adults in India is one of the highly successful vaccination drives globally but acceptance of COVID-19 for children and adolescents is largely unknown. As parents are primary decision-makers for their children, we aimed to assess parents’ perceptions and intentions regarding COVID-19 vaccination for children in India. Aim To assess parental perceptions and intention to get COVID-19 vaccination for their children (aged<18 years), Materials and Methods A cross-sectional anonymous web-based survey was designed. Healthcare workers of a tertiary care institute of Eastern U.P., India having any children aged <18 years were the study population. They were recruited through snowball sampling and were sent the study questionnaire in Google form through email and WhatsApp. Bi-variate analysis was performed to find out the predictors of child vaccination willingness among the parents. Results A total of 388 healthcare workers parents (HCWPs) having a child < 18 years of age completed the survey. Mean age of the parents were 40.28 ±11.34 years. Majority (96.9%) received recommended 2 doses of COVIID-19 vaccine. Around 91% of the parents agreed that COVID-19 vaccines are important for child’s health whereas 89% agreed that COVID-19 vaccines are effective. A total 356 (91.7%) participants shown willing to vaccinate their child with COVID-19 vaccine, 91.3% of them intended to do so as soon as possible Factors found to be significantly associated with the stated willingness for child COVID-19 vaccination among the participants were younger age, female gender, urban residence, absence of any chronic illness, lower monthly income, history of COVID-19 in child and the child immunized with all routine childhood vaccines. Parental concerns mainly centered around vaccine need and its safety. Conclusion The healthcare worker parents (HCWPs) have positive attitude and low vaccine hesitancy towards COVID-19 vaccination for children with around 92% of them currently willing to vaccinate their children with COVID-19 vaccine. Further longitudinal studies are required to be conducted to assess the trend of parental acceptance of COVID vaccine.
Background COVID-19 vaccination program among Adults in India is one of the highly successful vaccination drives globally. Indian children aged 15–18 years old became eligible for COVID-19 vaccination on 3rd January, 2022 followed by 12-14 years old children on 16th March, 2022. As parents are primary decision-makers for their children, we aimed to assess parents' perceptions and intentions regarding COVID-19 vaccination for children in India. Aim To assess parental perceptions and intention to get COVID-19 vaccination for their children (aged<18 years), Materials and Methods A cross-sectional anonymous web-based survey was designed. Healthcare workers of a tertiary care institute in Eastern U.P. having any children aged <18 years were the study population. They were recruited through snowball sampling and were sent the study questionnaire in Google form through email and WhatsApp. Cross-tabulation was performed by parents' intention to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 virus with socio-demographic characteristics and their risk perception toward COVID-19, trust in the healthcare system, and their history of vaccine hesitancy behavior routine childhood immunization. Bi-variate analysis was performed to find out the predictors of child vaccination intention among the parents. Results A total of 388 healthcare workers parents (HCWPs) having A child < 18 years of age completed the survey. Mean age of the parents were 40.28 ±11.34 years with majority(97.0%) completing recommended 2 doses of COVIID-19 vaccine. Around 91% of the parents agreed that COVID-19 vaccines are important for child’s health whereas about 89% agreed to the statement that COVID-19 vaccines are effective. A total 356 (91.7%) participants were willing to vaccinate their child against COVID-19, 91.3% of them liked to do so as soon as possible. The factors significantly associated with the stated likelihood of child vaccination among the participants were younger age, female gender, urban residence, absence of any chronic illness, lower monthly income, history of COVID-19 in child and the child/children completed with routine childhood vaccines. Parental concerns mainly centered around vaccine need, safety and side effects. Conclusion The healthcare worker parents(HCWPs) have good knowledge and positive attitude towards COVID-19 vaccination for children. Around 92% of them were willing to vaccinate their children with COVID vaccine currently, which implies very low vaccine hesitancy among the HCWPs . Further longitudinal studies are required to be conducted to assess the trend of parental acceptance of COVID vaccine.
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