Views on COVID-19 vaccination of young children in Ireland, results from a cross-sectional survey of parents

Willingness and hesitancy of parents to vaccinate against COVID-19 their children ages 6 months to 4 years with frail conditions in Italy

“…Parents who had these positive attitudes were 2.58 and 1.66 times more willing to vaccinate their child when compared with parents who had unfavorable attitudes. This finding is consistent with those of several recently conducted studies showing that parents’ opinions about the efficacy of the vaccines in general have a significant impact in vaccine acceptance ( 13 , 15 , 18 , 23 , 49 , 50 ). Therefore, public health education programs for parents with a negative attitude toward the utility of the COVID-19 vaccine would result in a high vaccine acceptance with an increase in the uptake.…”

“…This result was like that of 31.3% in the United States among parents of healthy children 2-4 years (15). This value was higher than those observed in other countries, in which the prevalence was 19.8 and 25.2% among parents of healthy children, respectively, aged <5 years (20) and 0-4 years (16) in the United States, but it was lower than the 71% in Brazil (14) and 50.6% in Ireland for children aged 0-4 years (23), 50% for 4 years in Australia (19), 45.1% for <5 years with few had an underlying disease in Malaysia ( 13), 42% for <2 years in the United States (12), and 41.9 and 45.4% for 2-4 years and 6-23 months in Canada (17). Furthermore, the value was also likewise lower as compared to the 36% found among parents of children 0 to 5 years with developmental disabilities in the United States (22), and to the 42.1% of children 0 to 4 years with neurodevelopmental disorders in Bangladesh (21).…”

“…There is overwhelming evidence supporting that parents are the decision-makers regarding the vaccination for their children and the attitudes are key determinants in the vaccine acceptance and uptake. Cross-sectional studies have investigated the willingness of parents of children ages 6 months to 4 years in many places (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20) but limited information was available regarding children with frail conditions (21)(22)(23). Such data are paramount to COVID-19 vaccine uptake rates.…”

Analysis of the COVID-19 vaccine willingness and hesitancy among parents of healthy children aged 6 months–4 years: a cross-sectional survey in Italy

“…When assessing the parents’ willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19, only 14.4% intended to vaccinate. This value was considerably lower than the intention observed with a large variation among parents of similar-aged healthy children in other studies in different countries, like for example in Australia (77.2%) ( 22 ), Brazil (73%) ( 23 ), United States (51.5%) ( 24 ), Ireland (50.6%) ( 25 ), Thailand (45.1%) ( 9 ), and Canada (41.9–45.4%) ( 26 ). A possible explanation for the very low willingness toward COVID-19 vaccination is the fact that at the moment of this survey, the campaign for children aged 6 months–4 years had not yet started in Italy, and, therefore, parents are looking for more information before exposing their children.…”

Healthcare Worker Characteristics Associated with SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Uptake in Ireland; a Multicentre Cross-Sectional Study

“…The importance of primary vaccination and ongoing engagement with booster vaccination programmes is evidenced by the relatively poor protection against infection offered by the primary vaccination course against new variants of concern, such as Omicron [19]. There has been an evolution in the public's perception of receiving COVID-19 vaccinations over the course of the pandemic in Ireland, with increasing resistance and hesitancy being seen [20,21]. This ongoing engagement continues to pose a challenge to vaccination teams and occupational health departments.…”