Al-Khlaiwi Thamir, Meo Sultan Ayoub, Almousa Hamad Abdulaziz, Almebki Abdulrahman Ahmed, Albawardy Mansour Khalid, Alshurafa Hassan Haider, Althunayan Meshal Abdulaziz, Alsayyari Mohammed Sulaiman
Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11461, Saudi Arabia.
College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11461, Saudi Arabia.
Vaccines (Basel). 2022 Jan 22;10(2):168. doi: 10.3390/vaccines10020168.
Vaccinating children against COVID-19 is an essential public health strategy in order to reach herd immunity and prevent illness among children and adults. Parents are facing tremendous stress in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccination program for children. In this study, we aimed to investigate parents' perceptions and acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine for their children in Saudi Arabia. A well-designed, pre-validated, Google questionnaire was distributed to parents through social media websites. The selection of the participants was based on the simple random sample technique. The study sample size was 1304 participants, with 342 males (26.2%), and 962 females (73.8%). The personal information, perception about COVID-19, and their children's vaccination status were obtained. Among the participants, 602 (46.1%) were willing to get the COVID-19 vaccination for their children, whereas 382 (29.3%) were hesitant to inoculate their children for COVID-19 and 320 (24.4%) were unsure. Age ( = 0.004), gender ( = 0.001), occupation (0.004), income ( = 0.030), and vaccination status ( = 0.001) had an influence on the parents' acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination of their children. On the other hand, education level, number of children, and having been previously infected with COVID-19 had no statistically significant effect on the parent acceptance. The correlation of parents' knowledge about COVID-19 and their agreement to the vaccination of their children was statistically significant, along with gender (males were more knowledgeable, with < 0.001), occupation, income (higher income showed a statistical difference, with < 0.001), and vaccination status ( < 0.001). There was a decrease in parents' acceptance toward the COVID-19 children vaccine in Saudi Arabia, which requires more attention and focus from health providers to eliminate fear and anxiety among the parents through additional educational programs and events to decrease the resistance toward the vaccination of children. More emphasis is required to increase the awareness of parents and convey the importance of the vaccine for children. In addition, more studies are needed to ensure the vaccine's safety.
为实现群体免疫并预防儿童和成人患病，为儿童接种新冠疫苗是一项至关重要的公共卫生策略。父母们在新冠疫情以及儿童新冠疫苗接种计划的有效性方面面临着巨大压力。在本研究中，我们旨在调查沙特阿拉伯父母对其子女接种新冠疫苗的认知和接受情况。通过社交媒体网站向父母分发了一份精心设计、预先验证的谷歌问卷。参与者的选择基于简单随机抽样技术。研究样本量为1304名参与者，其中男性342名（26.2%），女性962名（73.8%）。获取了个人信息、对新冠的认知以及他们子女的疫苗接种状况。在参与者中，602名（46.1%）愿意为其子女接种新冠疫苗，而382名（29.3%）对为子女接种新冠疫苗犹豫不决，320名（24.4%）不确定。年龄（=0.004）、性别（=0.001）、职业（0.004）、收入（=0.030）和疫苗接种状况（=0.001）对父母接受其子女接种新冠疫苗有影响。另一方面，教育水平、子女数量以及之前是否感染过新冠对父母的接受程度没有统计学上的显著影响。父母对新冠的认知与其同意为子女接种疫苗之间的相关性具有统计学意义，同时还有性别（男性知识更丰富，<0.001）、职业、收入（高收入显示出统计学差异，<0.001）和疫苗接种状况（<0.001）。沙特阿拉伯父母对儿童新冠疫苗的接受度有所下降，这需要医疗服务提供者给予更多关注，通过额外的教育项目和活动消除父母的恐惧和焦虑，以降低对儿童接种疫苗的抵触情绪。需要更多地强调提高父母的意识并传达疫苗对儿童的重要性。此外，还需要更多研究来确保疫苗的安全性。
