Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, Hamad Medical Corporation, PO Box 3050, Doha, Qatar.
Division of Genomics and Precision Medicine, College of Health and Life Sciences, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Education City, Qatar.
Sci Rep. 2023 May 5;13(1):7353. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-34191-y.
As the global vaccination mass campaign against COVID-19 extended to children aged 5 to 11 years, some parents remained hesitant about their children being administered the vaccine despite data supporting its safety. Parent vaccine hesitancy (PVH) may have predisposed certain groups of children, particularly those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), to COVID-19 when other neurotypical children would have been vaccinated. We investigated the current PVH in 243 parents of children with ASD and 245 controls using the Parent Attitudes about Childhood Vaccines (PACV) scale. The study was conducted in Qatar from May to October 2022. Overall, 15.0% [95% CI 11.7%; 18.3%] of parents were vaccine-hesitant, with no difference (p = 0.054) between groups (ASD children [18.2%] vs. controls [11.7%]). The only sociodemographic factor associated with higher vaccine hesitancy was being a mother (as compared to being a father). The COVID-19 vaccine receipt rate at the time of the study did not differ between ASD (24.3%) and non-ASD groups (27.8%). Around two-thirds of parents of children with ASD refused or were unsure about vaccinating their children against COVID-19. We found that the intent to vaccinate against COVID-19 was higher in parents who were married and in those with a lower PACV total score. Continued public health efforts are needed to address vaccine hesitancy among parents.
随着全球针对 5 至 11 岁儿童的 COVID-19 疫苗接种大规模运动的开展，尽管数据支持其安全性，但一些家长仍对为孩子接种疫苗犹豫不决。父母对疫苗的犹豫（PVH）可能使某些儿童群体（特别是自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童）在其他神经典型儿童接种疫苗时更容易感染 COVID-19。我们使用儿童疫苗态度量表（PACV）调查了 243 名 ASD 儿童的父母和 245 名对照组父母的当前 PVH。该研究于 2022 年 5 月至 10 月在卡塔尔进行。总体而言，15.0%（95%CI 11.7%；18.3%）的父母对疫苗犹豫不决，两组之间没有差异（p=0.054）（ASD 儿童 [18.2%] 与对照组 [11.7%]）。唯一与更高疫苗犹豫相关的社会人口因素是母亲（与父亲相比）。在研究时，ASD 儿童（24.3%）和非 ASD 儿童组（27.8%）的 COVID-19 疫苗接种率没有差异。大约三分之二的 ASD 儿童的父母拒绝或不确定为孩子接种 COVID-19 疫苗。我们发现，对 COVID-19 进行疫苗接种的意愿在已婚父母和 PACV 总分较低的父母中更高。需要继续开展公共卫生努力，以解决父母对疫苗的犹豫。
