Will Parents Vaccinate Their Children Against COVID-19 If Offered in the Pediatric Emergency Department?

Background:

Background: As of June 30, 2021, a total of 33,496,454 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the US (CDC) with 621,946 related deaths. Recently, there is a reduction in the number of new cases, ED visits and hospitalizations attributed to vaccinations. Despite availability, vaccination rates are declining due to vaccine hesitancy. Emergency (EDs) departments have been a safety net for care particularly for the underserved and vulnerable populations that are more likely to be unimmunized. EDs have participated in public health initiatives, most recently with the influenza vaccination campaign. The American College of Emergency Physicians have developed a tool kit for EDs contemplating COVID vaccination. While it may be feasible to utilize EDs for COVID vaccination, it is unclear if patients are willing to receive this intervention. Our objective is to determine if parents seen in our ED would accept COVID vaccine in the ED for themselves and their children. Secondary objective is to identify the reasons for COVID vaccine hesitancy.

Methods: Study Design and Methodology: A convenience sample of parents of children (18 years old) presenting to our community hospital pediatric ED between January to May 2021 were invited to participate in the study and anonymously fill out a pretested questionnaire. Parents that answered no or unsure to get vaccine were grouped as ‘vaccine hesitant’. Collected data was analyzed and associations were explored using chi square analysis using SPSS for Windows v27 software

Results:

Results: A total of 200 parents filled out the paper survey. Most parents were younger than 34 years old (53%), were African American (n=133, 67%), attended high school (n=81, 41%), and had more than 2 children (n=124, 62%). Most children were <5 years old (n=109, 55%), vaccination status up to date in 97% (n=193) including flu vaccination reported for 70% (n=140) of children. Only 35% (n=70) of parents either received or were planning to receive the COVID vaccine, 34% (n= 67) were unsure and 31% (n=61) would not get the vaccine. Majority parents (n= 153, 77%) would not get their child vaccinated. Fear of side effects (n=97, 49%) was the most frequent cause for vaccine hesitancy. Only 22% (n=43) would get vaccinated in the ED if offered. There was no significant association between vaccine hesitancy and parental age, ethnicity, education level, child age, number of children and previous flu vaccination.

Conclusion:

Conclusion: COVID vaccine hesitancy is very prevalent in our parent population and most would not utilize the ED if vaccine offered. These results can help supplement current initiatives including development of community based educational strategies to enhance COVID vaccination rates.