What Causes the Discrepancy in SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Between Parental Hesitancy for Themselves and for Their Children During Lockdown Period?

• Published in: Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health 2023-09, Vol.13 (3), p.422-434
• Main Authors: Zhao, Tianshuo, Wang, Chao, Zhang, Sihui, Chen, Linyi, Han, Bingfeng, Liu, Hanyu, Xie, Mingzhu, Cai, Xianming, Zhang, Shanshan, Zhou, Yiguo, Li, Guoxing, Liu, Bei, Du, Juan, Zeng, Jing, Liu, Yaqiong, Lu, Qingbin, Cui, Fuqiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Children; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Health belief model; Immunization; Parent; Parents & parenting; SARS-CoV-2 vaccine; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Structural equation model; Structural equation modeling; Vaccine hesitancy; Vaccines
• ISSN: 2210-6006; 2210-6014
• DOI: 10.1007/s44197-023-00122-3

BackgroundParents are usually the decision-makers for vaccinations of children. Therefore, it is important to understand parental beliefs and attitudes toward severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine for themselves and their children when it was approved for children age 3–17.MethodA cross-sectional survey based on an anonymous online questionnaire for parents was conducted in seven provinces of China, and demographic information, vaccination history, parental decision motives, and health belief model toward themselves and their children were collected, respectively.ResultsThe overall parental hesitancy rate toward themselves was 20.30%, and that toward their children was 7.80%. More parental concerns on disease severity (odd ratio [OR] = 1.11, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01–1.61) and susceptibility (OR = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.01–1.63) of children could be the causes of discrepancy in hesitancy for themselves and for their children. Parents who hesitated to vaccinate themselves might also be hesitated to vaccinate their children (β = 0.077, P