Attitude of Parents of Children with Cerebral Palsy Towards COVID-19 Vaccination

Ramy Mohamed Ghazy; Malik Sallam; Noha Fadl; Etwal Bouraad; Naglaa Youssef; Omnya Samy A Ghoneim

doi:10.3390/ijerph20031909

Attitude of Parents of Children with Cerebral Palsy Towards COVID-19 Vaccination

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 20;20(3):1909. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20031909.

Authors

Ramy Mohamed Ghazy¹, Malik Sallam^{2

3}, Noha Fadl⁴, Etwal Bouraad^{5

6}, Naglaa Youssef⁷, Omnya Samy A Ghoneim⁸

Affiliations

¹ Tropical Health Department, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21561, Egypt.
² Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan.
³ Department of Clinical Laboratories and Forensic Medicine, Jordan University Hospital, Amman 11942, Jordan.
⁴ Family Health Department, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21561, Egypt.
⁵ Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, American University of Beirut, Beirut 961, Lebanon.
⁶ School of Pharmacy, Lebanese International University, Beirut 961, Lebanon.
⁷ Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing, College of Nursing, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Department of Physical Therapy for Pediatrics and Pediatric Surgery, Faculty of Physical Therapy, Badr University in Cairo, Cairo 11829, Egypt.

Abstract

Children with cerebral palsy (CP) are at a greater risk of respiratory complications from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Therefore, this study aimed to assess COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (VH) among parents of CP children in Egypt, using the Arabic version of the Parental Attitude about Childhood Vaccination (PACV) questionnaire. This cross-sectional survey study was conducted at the outpatient clinics of two hospitals in Cairo, Egypt. Parents of children with CP were recruited using a simple random sampling technique. A total of 321 parents were enrolled; more than half of them were mothers of the children (61.37%); and the majority were Egyptians (87.23%) and living in urban areas (84.42%). Nearly 70% of the parents were hesitant to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to their children. A multiple linear regression model revealed that the PACV mean scores were lower among the following categories: (1) parents who could pay back loans, compared to those who could not pay back loans and who reported insufficient income (β = -2.39, p = 0.030); (2) non-Egyptian parents (β = -1.54, p = 0.002); (3) those who were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 themselves or had the intention to receive the complete COVID-19 vaccination (β = -6.28, p < 0.001); (4) those who had the intention to give the COVID-19 vaccination to their children (β = -3.04, p < 0.001); and (5) parents whose children received routine vaccines (β = -2.86, p < 0.045). After adjusting for other covariates, the parental COVID-19 vaccine status (β = -6.28, p < 0.001) and parents who experienced a COVID-19-related death in the family (β = -1.75, p < 0.001) showed significantly lower mean PACV scores. However, higher mean PACV scores were reported among parents who had a COVID-19 infection (β = 2.77, p < 0.001) or who were not sure (β = 2.94, p < 0.001). Our findings suggest the need to increase COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among parents of vulnerable children to reduce the negative consequences of COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccine; Egypt; SARS-CoV-2; cerebral palsy; children; parental attitude; vaccine hesitancy.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

COVID-19 Vaccines / therapeutic use
COVID-19* / epidemiology
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Cerebral Palsy* / epidemiology
Child
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Humans
Patient Acceptance of Health Care
Vaccination

Substances

COVID-19 Vaccines

Grants and funding

This research did not receive any specific grants from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.