1. Parental and Pediatricians' Attitudes towards COVID-19 Vaccination for Children: Results from Nationwide Samples in Greece.
- Author
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Steletou, Evangelia, Giannouchos, Theodoros, Karatza, Ageliki, Sinopidis, Xenophon, Vervenioti, Aggeliki, Souliotis, Kyriakos, Dimitriou, Gabriel, and Gkentzi, Despoina
- Subjects
PARENT attitudes ,VACCINATION ,COVID-19 vaccines ,ATTITUDE (Psychology) ,CROSS-sectional method ,PHYSICIANS' attitudes ,SURVEYS ,DESCRIPTIVE statistics ,DATA analysis software ,CHILDREN ,ADOLESCENCE - Abstract
Although many studies have examined factors associated with COVID-19 vaccination and healthcare professionals' attitudes towards vaccines, less is known about parents' and pediatricians' attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination for children. Using two cross-sectional surveys from November to December 2021 in Greece, we aimed to assess parental intention to vaccinate their 5 to 17 years old children against COVID-19 and to evaluate pediatricians' attitudes towards children's vaccination against COVID-19. Overall, 439 parents and 135 pediatricians participated. Of them, 240 (54.7%) intended to vaccinate their children against COVID-19. The most commonly reported reasons for non-intention were the short length of clinical trials and the fear of side effects. Only 16.6% of non-intenders would vaccinate their children if the pediatrician recommended it. The factors associated with higher intention to get vaccinated were a parent's own vaccination against COVID-19, trust in official healthcare guidelines, increased trust in the state and the healthcare system during the pandemic, and older age. Of the pediatricians, 92.6% recommended children's vaccination, and 75.6% agreed with mandating the vaccine. These findings suggest the need to tailor easy-to-understand messages by well-informed pediatricians to address safety concerns, educate, and clarify misconceptions through targeted interventions among those who currently do not wish to vaccinate their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
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