Most U.S. parents will not get COVID-19 vaccines for children younger than 5 years old as soon as they become available, a new survey shows.
The Kaiser Family Foundation’s Vaccine Monitor survey reported Wednesday that 18% of parents with infants and toddlers say they are “eager to get their child vaccinated right away.”
Another 38% say they “plan to wait a while” to see how the vaccine is working for others, 27% say they will “definitely not” get their child vaccinated and 11% say they will only do so if they are required.
“Just over half of parents of children in this age range say they do not have enough information about the vaccines’ safety and effectiveness for children under age 5,” the survey’s summary states.
The survey comes as drugmaker Moderna seeks emergency use authorization for a COVID-19 vaccine for children from 6 months to 5 years old.
About 13% of the parents of children under 5 said the Food and Drug Administration’s delay in authorizing the vaccine for young children made them less confident about its safety. By contrast, 22% said it made them more confident.
In February, the FDA announced it was waiting for more data on the effectiveness of a third dose before evaluating Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine for the age group.
Among parents of children aged 5 to 11 years old, 39% said their children were vaccinated and 32% said they would “definitely not” get a shot.
In the oldest age group, 56% of parents of children 12 to 17 said their kids had been vaccinated and 31% said they definitely will not be.
Kaiser conducted the digital dial telephone survey of 1,889 adults on April 13-26. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.
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