Parents’ intention to vaccinate their 5- to 11-year-old children with the COVID-19 vaccine: rates, predictors and the role of incentives

  1. Liora Shmueli

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Abstract

Introduction

Immediately after Pfizer announced encouraging effectiveness and safety results from their COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials in 5- to 11-year-old children, this study aimed to assess parents’ perceptions and intention to vaccinate their 5-11-year-old children and to determine socio-demographic, health-related, behavioral factors, as well as the role of incentives.

Methods

A cross-sectional online survey of parents of children between 5 and 11 years of age among the Jewish population in Israel (n = 1,012). The survey was carried out between September 23 and October 4, 2021, at a critical time, immediately after Pfizer’s announcement. Two multivariate regressions were performed to determine predictors of parents’ intention to vaccinate their 5-11-year-old children against COVID-19.

Results

Overall, 57% of the participants reported that they intend to vaccinate their 5-11-year-old children against COVID-19 in the winter of 2022. 27% noted that they would vaccinate their 5-11-year-old children immediately; 26% within three months; and 24% within more than three months. Perceived susceptibility, benefits, barriers and cues to action, as well as two incentives - vaccine availability and receiving a “Green Pass” - were all significant predictors. However, Incentives such as monetary rewards or monetary penalties did not increase the probability of parents’ intention to vaccinate their children. Parental concerns centered around the safety of the vaccine, fear of severe side effects, and fear that clinical trials and the authorization process were carried out too quickly.

Conclusion

This study provides data on the role of incentives in vaccinating 5-11-year-old children, how soon they intend to do so, and the predictors of those intentions, which is essential knowledge for health policy makers planning vaccination campaigns.

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  1. Version published to 10.1186/s12889-023-15203-y
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.11.05.21265900: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Ethicsnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Independent variables were grouped into four blocks: Statistical analyses: Data from the online questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS 26 software, where explicit identifiers were replaced by coded pseudo-identifiers.
    SPSS
    suggested: (SPSS, RRID:SCR_002865)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Nevertheless, it is important to recognize this study’s limitations when interpreting the reported results. First, this study was conducted in Israel, and therefore its findings might not necessarily generalize to other countries. Nevertheless, previous studies evaluating vaccination intentions in Israel were found to have consistent trends with those of studies in other countries, and I believe that this study will not be different. Second, our participants were sampled from an online panel so it may miss, inherently, respondents who do not have regular access to the internet. Third, our sample included only the Jewish adult population in Israel, and it did not include the Arab population. Further research should be devoted to reach and include these subpopulations. Conclusions: This study provides up-to-date information on the rates of the intention of parents to vaccinate their 5-11 years old children, how soon they intend to do so, and the predictors of those intentions, which is essential for health policy makers and healthcare providers for planning vaccination campaigns. Moreover, as vaccine safety and side effects were found to be key parental concerns, it is important to release post-approval safety data regarding the vaccine to the public as soon as such becomes available. Finally, our findings underscore the important role of vaccine accessibility and receiving a ‘green pass’ over other incentives in promoting parents’ intentions to vaccinate their children.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

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  3. Version published to 10.1101/2021.11.05.21265900v1 on medRxiv