Parents' and Guardians' Willingness to Vaccinate Their Children against COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Feifan Chen,Yalin He,Yuan Shi

doi:10.3390/vaccines10020179

Abstract

COVID-19 vaccination for children is crucial to achieve herd immunity. This is the first systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate parents’ and guardians’ willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 and identify the determinants of vaccination intention. Systematic research was performed on the two databases (PubMed and EMBASE) from inception to 6 November 2021. Acceptance rates were pooled by use of a random-effects model and all predictors of vaccine acceptance were identified according to the health belief model (HBM) framework. This analysis was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42021292326) and reported in compliance with the PRISMA guidelines. Of 452 identified records, 29 eligible studies were included (N = 68,327 participants). The estimated worldwide vaccination acceptance rate was 61.40% (95% CI: 53.56–68.69%, I2 = 99.3%), ranging from 21.6% to 91.4% across countries and regions. In the determinant assessment, the age of parents and guardians, access to scientific information and recommendations, routine and influenza vaccination behavior, and the willingness of parents and guardians to vaccinate themselves were potentially significant predictors of the vaccination willingness. Given the limited quality and quantity of included articles, future studies with a rigorous design will be necessary for the confirmation of our findings.

Highlights

Declared as a global pandemic by the WHO on 11 March 2020, COVID-19 has spread to almost the whole world, resulting in serious disruptions in economics and society
Vaccination is the key to mitigating the impact of COVID-19, which will enable children to return to normal activities [4]
This study aimed to (1) estimate parents’ and guardians’ willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19; (2) identify the predictors of vaccine willingness or vaccine hesitancy; and hoped to provide a reference for future vaccine coverage in children which would promote the development of herd immunity to end the pandemic

Summary

Introduction

Declared as a global pandemic by the WHO on 11 March 2020, COVID-19 has spread to almost the whole world, resulting in serious disruptions in economics and society. Various physical measures have been conducted to curb the spread of the virus, including mask-wearing and social distancing. Social isolation has negative impacts on children’s mental health and well-being [3]. Vaccination is the key to mitigating the impact of COVID-19, which will enable children to return to normal activities [4]. A successful vaccination needs both adequate vaccine production as well as high levels of uptake. 60–72% of people need to be vaccinated to reach the threshold of herd immunity, in the case of vaccines that are 80% effective [6]. Considering the emergence of some new variants with high transmissibility, such as the recently discovered Omicron variant, a higher vaccination uptake may be needed [7]

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