Attitudes Toward COVID-19 Vaccines in Chinese Adolescents

Hong Cai; Wei Bai; Shou Liu; Huanzhong Liu; Xu Chen; Han Qi; Rui Liu; Teris Cheung; Zhaohui Su; Chee H Ng; Yu-Tao Xiang

doi:10.3389/fmed.2021.691079

Attitudes Toward COVID-19 Vaccines in Chinese Adolescents

Front Med (Lausanne). 2021 Jul 7:8:691079. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2021.691079. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Hong Cai^{1

2

3}, Wei Bai^{1

2

3}, Shou Liu⁴, Huanzhong Liu⁵, Xu Chen⁶, Han Qi⁶, Rui Liu⁶, Teris Cheung⁷, Zhaohui Su⁸, Chee H Ng⁹, Yu-Tao Xiang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Unit of Psychiatry, Department of Public Health and Medicinal Administration & Institute of Translational Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Taipa, China.
² Centre for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, University of Macau, Taipa, China.
³ Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Macau, Taipa, China.
⁴ Department of Public Health, Medical College, Qinghai University, Xining, China.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, Chaohu Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
⁶ The National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital & the Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, School of Mental Health, Beijing, China.
⁷ School of Nursing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, China.
⁸ Center on Smart and Connected Health Technologies, Mays Cancer Center, School of Nursing, UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States.
⁹ Department of Psychiatry, The Melbourne Clinic and St Vincent's Hospital, University of Melbourne, Richmond, VIC, Australia.

Abstract

Background: As COVID-19 vaccination programs are being implemented widely, it is important to examine the attitudes of adolescents toward the COVID-19 vaccine and its uptake. The aim of this study was to examine the acceptance of and attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines, and their associated factors among adolescents in China. Methods: This was a cross-sectional, observational study conducted between November 27, 2020 and March 12, 2021 using snowball sampling method. Basic sociodemographic characteristics, health-related information, severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms, and attitudes and behavior toward COVID-19 vaccines were assessed. Results: Overall, 1,057 adolescents participated in this study, yielding a response rate of 89.3%. There were 799 (75.59%) [95% Confidence Interval (CI) 73.00-78.18%] adolescents who would accept future COVID-19 vaccination. Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that adolescents who previously heard about COVID-19 vaccines (P = 0.001, odds ratio (OR) = 1.90, 95%CI:1.32-2.74), who thought that COVID-19 vaccines could protect them from COVID-19 infection (P = 0.002, OR = 2.93, 95%CI: 1.49-5.70), and those who encouraged their family members and friends to get vaccinated (P < 0.001, OR = 12.19, 95%CI: 6.78-21.92) and who believed that vaccines are safe (P = 0.012, OR = 3.94, 95%CI: 1.36-11.44) were more likely to accept future COVID-19 vaccination. In addition, younger adolescents (P = 0.003, OR = 0.93, 95%CI: 0.89-0.98) were more likely to accept future COVID-19 vaccines than older adolescents. Conclusions: In conclusion, Chinese adolescents appeared to have positive attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines. It is important to increase public confidence and knowledge regarding the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines to maximize the success of vaccination programs.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccines; acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines; adolescents; attitude toward vaccines; efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines.