44 - Changes in Parental Intent for Child COVID Vaccination in a Major Metropolitan City: A Serial Cross-Sectional Study

Poster Number: 44
Publication Number: 44.1182

Background: COVID-19 vaccine rollout for children was an important and complicated public health process occurring over several years. Vaccine became available for children 12 years and older by May 2021, for 5–11-year-olds by November 2021 and for 6 month-5 year olds by June 2022. Despite overall reassuring and robust safety and efficacy data, COVID-19 vaccines provoked highly polarized public discourse that encapsulated a variety of parental attitudes and intentions. Information on the evolution of parent opinion on child COVID vaccination is unique and valuable as it can help inform the potential reception of future vaccines and aid in public health planning.

Objective: To explore parents’ evolving intent to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 at multiple time points in a major metropolitan city.

Design/Methods: Data were collected from May 2020-November 2022 in 5 separate waves of the Voices of Child Health in Chicago Parent Panel Survey via web and phone in English and Spanish to parents from all 77 neighborhoods in Chicago. Parents with at least one child under 18 years old were asked about their intentions to vaccinate their child(ren) against COVID-19. Response options were “very likely,” “somewhat likely” and “not likely” and were updated as vaccine was authorized for children (i.e., “not sure” was also an option for Waves 1-2 and “already vaccinated” was also an option for Waves 3-5). The first and second waves of data were collected before a COVID-19 vaccine was available; the third through fifth waves were collected after vaccines were available to children in some or all age groups. Proportional analysis was used to examine parent intent to vaccinate. Data are weighted to be representative of the Chicago population.

Results: Responses were received from 1,642, 1,492, 1,129, 1,068, and 1,129 Chicago parents in the survey waves. At the beginning of the pandemic before vaccine existed (Wave 1), 49% of parents were very likely to vaccinate their children and this decreased to 38% (Wave 2) just before the vaccine became available. There was a steady increase from Waves 3-5 in the proportion of parents who were either very likely to vaccinate or reported they had already vaccinated their child(ren). Parents who reported being “not likely” to vaccinate their child(ren) remained relatively stable throughout the entire study period (16-22%).

Conclusion(s): Parental intent to vaccinate children against COVID-19 changed at various points during vaccine rollout, with a steady increase in intent or completion of vaccination and a relatively stable proportion of parents reporting being not likely to vaccinate.