More than 4 in 10 parents say they will definitely not get their young children vaccinated against COVID-19, a proportion that reflects skepticism about the shots and the risk of side effects.
More than 40% of parents said they would not vaccinate their children from six months to four years old, and 13% said they would do so only if required to send their child to school or daycare, in polling conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation. A relatively small portion of parents, roughly 32%, had consistently reported unwillingness to vaccinate their young children over the past year, periodic KFF survey results show. But Tuesday’s survey results show the largest share so far of parents who are set against getting the shots.
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Parents cited apprehension about the speed at which shots were developed, how new they are to the market, and the possibility that their children will experience severe side effects. A slight majority of parents, 53%, believe the vaccine is a bigger risk to their child’s health than getting infected with COVID-19. Republican and Republican-leaning parents, as well as parents who have not been vaccinated themselves, are also far less likely to get their children the shots.
One Republican mother in South Carolina told KFF the pediatric vaccine is “not effective and potentially harmful” with “no upside.” Meanwhile, a white, independent father in Wisconsin said the vaccine “has not been around long enough for adequate research.” And a black Democratic-leaning independent mother in South Carolina said, “I think it’s still too new, and I’m worried about any long-term side effects.”
The Food and Drug Administration’s panel of vaccine experts concluded last month that the benefits of the vaccine far outweighed the negative effects. Most of the effects of vaccination were mild, with symptoms such as pain at the injection site and fatigue, and resolved quickly. Fever was another adverse side effect of vaccination, reported in about a quarter of Moderna vaccine trial participants and roughly 10% of the Pfizer-BioNTech trial participants. Researchers for both vaccine makers were also looking for instances of myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle, which occurred among some older children and adults who were vaccinated. But myocarditis was not detected in any of the vaccine recipients in the Moderna and Pfizer trials.
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Children are known to be less susceptible than adults, particularly seniors, to severe cases of COVID-19, and many parents do not consider them necessary. A report in April from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that three-quarters of children under 11 already have COVID-19 antibodies present in their blood, meaning they have gained some measure of immune protection. Previous infection does not guarantee protection from reinfection.
