Prevalence and Factors Associated with Parents' Non-Intention to Vaccinate Their Children and Adolescents against COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Diego Urrunaga-Pastor,Guido Bendezu-Quispe,Adrian V Hernandez,Vicente A Benites-Zapata,Carlos J Toro-Huamanchumo,Alfonso J Rodriguez-Morales,Angela Uyen-Cateriano,Percy Herrera-Añazco

doi:10.3390/vaccines9111303

Abstract

We aimed to estimate the prevalence and factors associated with parents’ non-intention to vaccinate their children and adolescents against COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). We performed a secondary analysis using a database generated by the University of Maryland and Facebook (Facebook, Inc., Menlo Park, CA, USA). We included adult (18 and over) Facebook users residing in LAC who responded to the survey between 20 May 2021 and 14 July 2021. We included sociodemographic characteristics, comorbidities, mental health, economic and food insecurity, compliance with mitigation strategies against COVID-19, and practices related to vaccination against this disease. We estimated the crude (cPR) and adjusted (aPR) prevalence ratios with their respective 95%CI. We analyzed a sample of 227,740 adults from 20 LAC countries. The prevalence of parents’ non-intention to vaccinate their children and adolescents against COVID-19 was 7.8% (n = 15,196). An age above 35 years old, educational level above college, compliance with physical distancing, use of masks, having economic insecurity, having had COVID-19, anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, having a chronic condition or two or more comorbidities, and being vaccinated were associated with a lower prevalence of non-intention to vaccinate children and adolescents against COVID-19. Living in a town, a village, or a rural area was associated with a higher prevalence of non-intention to vaccinate children and adolescents against COVID-19. Approximately nine out of ten parents in LAC intended to vaccinate their children and adolescents against COVID-19. Our results allow for understanding parents’ intentions to vaccinate children and adolescents and help promote and develop education strategies for national vaccination plans against COVID-19.

Highlights

As of 1 November 2021, more than 246 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide with more than 5 million deaths [1]
We found a higher prevalence of non-intention to vaccinate children and adolescents in parents with college, university, and post-graduate studies, compared to the group without formal schooling, complete or incomplete elementary school
The intention to vaccinate their children was more remarkable in parents residing in a city and those presenting good adherence to health recommendations or chronic health conditions

Summary

Introduction

As of 1 November 2021, more than 246 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide with more than 5 million deaths [1]. COVID-19 affects children to a lesser extent and severity than adults [2,7], it is known that when community transmission increases, additional deaths occur in children and adolescents [8]. With the endorsement of some ongoing trials for children [10], some regulatory agencies such as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have approved emergency use in adolescents between 12 and 15 years of age, as well other national agencies [11,12] In this sense, some countries have already started vaccination against COVID-19 in adolescents and considered including children in their schedules [2,13]

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