COVID-19 Parental Vaccine Hesitancy Among Nurses in the State of South Dakota

Abstract

Parental vaccine hesitancy is present even among healthcare workers (HCWs). While HCWs are generally more likely to vaccinate their children than the general population, parental vaccine hesitancy exists even among this group [6,7]. A June 2021 poll of over 2,000 HCWs in the United States reported that only half of the registered and licensed practical nurses plan to vaccinate their children under 12 years immediately after vaccines become available [8]. A similar poll conducted in November 2021 on a sample of 4,000 HCWs revealed that only 47% of registered and licensed practical nurses plan to vaccinate their children under the age of 5 right away [9].We build upon the anecdotal evidence and systematically investigate the drivers of parental COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among nurses. Our paper makes several unique contributions to the existing scholarship on parents' attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination-we focus on HCWs, use vaccine uptake as dependent variable, and include parents' political views in the analysis.First, when it comes to understanding parents' hesitancy to vaccinate their children, most studies examined the general population and few focused on HCWs. The studies that explored parental COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy are few [10][11][12]. However, none of the studies were conducted in the United States, and none focus specifically on nurses. HCWs are on the front line of efforts to curb the spread of the virus, and they are impacted by the pandemic to a greater extent than the general population. Nurses, together with other HCWs, serve as primary advisers for people when it comes to health decisions, including vaccination [13][14][15]. The presence of parental vaccine hesitancy among nurses might negatively affect their ability to provide impartial advice to patients regarding vaccination decisions for their families. Vaccine hesitancy among nurses also interferes with the mission of public health officials to increase vaccination rates among children.Second, existing studies examined parents' attitudes toward a hypothetical vaccine only [6,[16][17][18]. This is

Religion, Trust in Government and Covid-19 Vaccine Acceptance in Africa

“…It is crucial for stakeholders in the health sector to team up with the leaders of various religious institutions to educate them and promote vaccine acceptance. Studies have documented that when religious leaders are involved in public health promotions, members of the religion tend to comply [73,74]. In addition, the study found that trust in the government positively predicts vaccine acceptance.…”