AUTHOR=Wang Xu , Yan Wu , Lu Lingling , Cao Liming , Tian Ye , Zhou Kai 

TITLE=Chinese Parent Intention to Vaccinate Children With Special Diseases Against COVID-19

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.725980

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2021.725980

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Information on the intention of parents of children with special diseases to vaccinate their children against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is scarce.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> In this survey, all participants (<italic>n</italic> = 914) were enrolled from a tertiary children's hospital between September 2020 and April 2021. A face-to-face questionnaire interview was conducted to collect information on the special diseases of children and parental attitudes about the COVID-19 vaccine. We compared the demographic and disease factors between the group of parents who were willing to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 and the group who were unwilling to vaccinate.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> Among 941 children, 58.1% (<italic>n</italic> = 547) were boys. The Mean age was 1.4 (SD 1.9) years. If the COVID-19 vaccine becomes available for the child, 470 (49.9%) of parents were willing to provide vaccination for their children. The less the education levels of the father or mother, the more likely they were to vaccinate their children (<italic>P</italic> = 0.003, <italic>P</italic> = 0.007). However, more intentions to vaccinate were provided in parents of children with COVID-19 prevention and control education (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.001).</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> Our findings provided evidence that some parents are willing to vaccinate their children with special diseases against COVID-19. Professional knowledge about COVID-19 prevention and control may contribute to increased parental intention.</p>