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

Louise Marron; Annamaria Ferenczi; Katie M O'Brien; Suzanne Cotter; Lucy Jessop; Yvonne Morrissey; Chantal Migone

doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.08.030

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

Vaccine. 2022 Sep 16;40(39):5716-5725. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.08.030. Epub 2022 Aug 22.

Authors

Louise Marron¹, Annamaria Ferenczi², Katie M O'Brien³, Suzanne Cotter³, Lucy Jessop⁴, Yvonne Morrissey⁴, Chantal Migone⁴

Affiliations

¹ National Immunisation Office, Unit 8-9 Manor Street Business Park, Manor Street, Dublin 7, Ireland; Health Protection Surveillance Centre, 25-27 Middle Gardiner Street, Dublin 1, Ireland. Electronic address: marronl@tcd.ie.
² Health Protection Surveillance Centre, 25-27 Middle Gardiner Street, Dublin 1, Ireland; European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET), European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden; Epidemiology and Surveillance Centre, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
³ Health Protection Surveillance Centre, 25-27 Middle Gardiner Street, Dublin 1, Ireland.
⁴ National Immunisation Office, Unit 8-9 Manor Street Business Park, Manor Street, Dublin 7, Ireland.

Abstract

Vaccination of children aged 5 years and older is recommended as part of a multifaceted strategy to protect children against SARS CoV-2 infection and serious disease, and to control the spread of infection. COVID-19 vaccine trials in children aged less than5 years are underway, however, parental acceptance of vaccines for this age group is unknown. Between June and August 2021, a cross-sectional national survey of parental attitudes towards childhood vaccination in Ireland was conducted. Parents of children aged 0-48 months were surveyed to determine their attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines for their children. A total of 855 parents were surveyed. Overall, 50.6 % reported that they intend to vaccinate their child, 28.7 % reported that they did not intend to vaccinate and 20.2 % were unsure. Among those who stated that they did not intend to vaccinate their child, concern about risks and side effects of vaccination was the primary reason reported (45.6 %). The most frequently reported information needs related to side effects of the vaccine (64.7 %) and vaccine safety (60.3 %). Results of the multivariable analysis showed that believing COVID-19 can be a serious illness in children was a strong predictor of parental intention to vaccinate (aOR 4.88, 95 % CI 2.68, 8.91, p-value < 0.001). In comparison with Irish-born parents, parents born in a Central and Eastern European country were less likely to report intention to vaccinate (aOR 0.21, 95 % CI 0.09, 0.47, p-value, <0.001). Parental belief in vaccine importance and safety and parental trust in official vaccine information sources were associated with increased parental intention to vaccinate. Understanding parental attitudes to vaccination of young children against COVID-19 is important to tailor the provision of information to parents' needs, and to inform the development of vaccination information and communication campaigns for current and future COVID-19 immunisations programmes for children.

Keywords: Attitudes; COVID-19; Children; Immunisation; Ireland; Vaccination.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19 Vaccines
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Child
Child, Preschool
Cross-Sectional Studies
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Humans
Ireland / epidemiology
Parents
Vaccination
Vaccines*

Substances

COVID-19 Vaccines
Vaccines