Acceptability of COVID-19 vaccinations among adolescents, parents

Editor's Note

In this study by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is based on surveys conducted just before the expanded availability of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for adolescents aged 12-15 years, about half of unvaccinated adolescents and their parents reported not intending for or being uncertain about whether the adolescent would receive a COVID-19 vaccination.

Female parents, those with lower education levels, and those living in the Midwest or South had lower intentions to have their adolescent children vaccinated.

The most common factors that parents and adolescents said would increase COVID-19 vaccination intent were having more information about adolescent vaccine safety and efficacy.

Efforts focusing on communicating the benefits and safety of COVID-19 vaccinations for adolescents to the public could help increase adolescent vaccine confidence and vaccination coverage, the authors say.