Factors impacting parental uptake of COVID-19 vaccination for U.S. Children ages 5-17.

COVID-19 vaccination of U.S. children lags behind adult vaccination, but remains critical in mitigating the pandemic. Using a subset of a nationally representative survey, this study examined factors contributing to parental uptake of COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 12-17 and 5-11, stratified by parental COVID-19 vaccination status. Among vaccinated parents, uptake was higher for 12-17-year-olds (78.6%) than 5-11-year-olds (50.7%); only two unvaccinated parents vaccinated their children. Child influenza vaccination was predictive of uptake for both age groups, while side effect concerns remained significant only for younger children. Although parents were more likely to involve adolescents in vaccine decision-making than younger children, this was not predictive of vaccine uptake. These results highlight the importance of addressing the unique and shared concerns parents have regarding COVID-19 vaccination for children of varying ages. Future work should further explore adolescent/child perspectives of involvement in COVID-19 vaccination decision-making to support developmentally appropriate involvement.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Julen Harris, Christine Mauro, Tucker Morgan, and Ariel de Roche have no conflicts of interest to declare. Outside of the current study, Gregory Zimet has served as an external advisory board member for Merck and Moderna, and as a consultant to Merck. He also has received investigator-initiated research funding from Merck administered through Indiana University and serves as an unpaid member of the Board of Directors for the Unity Consortium, a non-profit organization that supports adolescent health through vaccination. Susan Rosenthal has received investigator-initiated research funding from Merck Investigator Studies Program administered through Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
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