Pediatricians' recommendation and COVID-19 vaccination in children
Description
Several sociodemographic factors influence parental hesitancy to vaccinate children against COVID-19. Vaccine refusal is predominantly driven by fear of potential side effects, and the latest data showed poor vaccine acceptance for under-five children. Parents often trust pediatricians’ recommendations more than official guidelines, which could be utilized as a public health strategy. Previous studies demonstrated that healthcare providers’ recommendations could accelerate HPV vaccination in children. However, pediatricians’ influence on parental decisions to immunize children against COVID-19 has not been well studied and might help optimize pro-vaccination strategies. To address the knowledge gap, we conducted a cross-section survey (N=2622) to determine the influence of pediatricians’ recommendations on caregivers’ vaccine acceptance for children, compared to other sociodemographic and personal characteristics. We used logistic regression and artificial neural networks to estimate the association between parental decisions and various sociodemographic predictors, including pediatricians’ recommendations. Both models identified the pediatrician’s recommendation as a top predictor for caregivers’ vaccine acceptance, along with their COVID vaccination status and side effects experienced post-COVID vaccination. Hypothesis: Pediatricians' opinion impacts parental COVID-19 vaccine acceptance for children., while adjusted for various socio-demographic and other characteristics of the participants like age, race, gender, residence region (HHS), healthcare worker, family income, education, COVID-19 vaccination status. This data is from a nationwide survey. Valid response =2622. We built prediction model, with children's COVID-19 vaccination status is dependent variable. Few participants had multiple children, so either all, none or some of the children were vaccinated. Few participants did not have children either. Other sociodemographic characteristics were considered as independent variables. It was a mix of categorical and continuous variables (age, family income, level of education, Vaccine side effects severity, pediatricians' recommendation scores). Parental concern about future vaccination of under five children were divided into five categories.