Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Taibah University, College of Medicine, Madinah 42353, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 11;20(2):1345. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20021345.
Simultaneously with the development of the COVID-19 vaccination plan for minors, it is critical to understand the reasons related to parental COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy. This study aims to determine the reasons associated with vaccination hesitancy among parents, and the prevalence and the characteristics of the parents who are hesitant to allow their children aged between 5 to 11 years old to be administered the COVID-19 vaccines. A web-based questionnaire was used to perform this study between May 2022 to September 2022 in Saudi Arabia (SA). Several factors, personal and social, affected the participants' willingness to vaccinate their children with the COVID-19 vaccines. The age of the parents was found to have a significant impact on their decision to vaccinate their children. Those between the age of 40-49 years of age were the most willing to vaccinate (almost 41%) compared to those 50 years or older who were most resistant to vaccination. Female participants were more resistant to vaccinating their children compared to their male counterparts. Saudis were more resistant to vaccinating their children compared to the non-Saudi participants. Those private sector-employed parents were the most willing to vaccinate (16.6%), followed by those working in the governmental sector (13.8%). About 40.7% of non-healthcare workers were resistant to vaccinating their minor compared to healthcare workers (8.7%). In conclusion, the study presents several factors that affect the parental willingness to vaccinate their children in SA. These factors should be properly addressed when developing public health strategies to promote the COVID-19 vaccination of children in SA.
随着未成年人 COVID-19 疫苗接种计划的同时发展，了解与父母 COVID-19 疫苗犹豫相关的原因至关重要。本研究旨在确定与父母疫苗犹豫相关的原因，以及在沙特阿拉伯 (SA) 中，父母让其 5 至 11 岁儿童接种 COVID-19 疫苗的犹豫率和特征。本研究于 2022 年 5 月至 2022 年 9 月期间采用在线问卷的方式在沙特阿拉伯进行。几个个人和社会因素影响了参与者让孩子接种 COVID-19 疫苗的意愿。父母的年龄被发现对他们为孩子接种疫苗的决定有重大影响。40-49 岁的父母最愿意接种（近 41%），而 50 岁或以上的父母最抵制接种。与男性相比，女性参与者更不愿意为孩子接种疫苗。与非沙特参与者相比，沙特人更不愿意为孩子接种疫苗。私营部门就业的父母最愿意接种（16.6%），其次是政府部门就业的父母（13.8%）。约 40.7%的非医护人员与医护人员（8.7%）相比，不愿意为未成年子女接种疫苗。总之，本研究提出了影响沙特阿拉伯父母为孩子接种疫苗意愿的几个因素。在制定促进沙特阿拉伯儿童 COVID-19 疫苗接种的公共卫生策略时，应妥善解决这些因素。
