Attitudes toward COVID-19 and Other Vaccines: Comparing Parents to Other Adults, September 2022

Abstract

Few analyses of COVID-19 vaccine attitudes also cover routine vaccines or focus on parents. In this cross-sectional study, we surveyed US adults in September 2022, immediately following the authorization of updated bivalent COVID-19 boosters for adults but before their authorization for children. The vaccine attitudes of parents were compared to other adults. Fewer parents were up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccines than other adults (54% vs. 67%), even after adjusting for age, education, and race/ethnicity (Adjusted Odds Ratio: 0.58; 95% Confidence Interval: 0.45–0.76). More parents had concerns about COVID-19 vaccines’ safety in children (67% vs. 58%; aOR: 1.59; 95%CI: 1.23–2.06) and vaccine ingredients (52% vs. 45%; aOR: 1.41; 95%CI: 1.09–1.81), and more parents perceived COVID-19 in children to be no worse than a cold or the flu (51% vs. 38%; aOR: 1.56; 95%CI: 1.22–2.01). Fewer parents supported COVID-19 vaccine school requirements (52% vs. 57%; aOR: 0.75; 95%CI: 0.58–0.97) and perceived high vaccine coverage among their friends (51% vs. 61%; aOR: 0.60; 95%CI: 0.46–0.78). However, three-quarters of parents intended their child to receive all routinely recommended vaccines, whereas only half of adults intended to receive all routinely recommended vaccines themselves. To improve parental informed vaccine decision-making, public health must ensure pediatric providers have updated resources to support their discussions of vaccine risks and benefits with their patients’ parents.