Vaccine hesitancy among parents could return with COVID-19 boosters

New research suggests that parents may be vaccine hesitant but also choose to receive a vaccine themselves or for their children. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from May 2023 indicated that 44% of children in the U.S. aged 6 months to 17 years received an initial dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Data also showed that only 18.5% of adolescents 12-17 years who had received an initial dose of the COVID-19 vaccine had received a bivalent booster.

“Because prior vaccination behavior may not be a reliable indicator of future vaccine acceptance among hesitant adopter parents, health care providers and public health officials must continue to address parental concerns and provide strong evidence for vaccine safety and efficacy.” Vaccines (Basel), February 2024

Interviews conducted by the Arkansas CEAL Regional Team found that vaccine-hesitant parents who had their children initially vaccinated for COVID-19 may be reluctant to have their children receive a COVID-19 booster. Vaccine hesitancy among parents could continue throughout the vaccination process, and pediatricians may want to continue emphasizing vaccine safety.

Better understanding parents’ hesitancy to vaccinate their children can help increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake and vaccinations for other diseases in the future.

For more synopses of CEAL research, please subscribe to the CEAL Research Roundup.

A qualitative study of intent to receive COVID-19 boosters among parents who were hesitant adopters of the COVID-19 vaccine