Children and COVID-19 Research Library

It is important to encourage parental acceptance of children’s vaccination against COVID-19 to ensure population immunity and mitigate morbidity and mortality. This study drew upon protection motivation theory (PMT) to explore the factors of parental hesitancy about vaccinating their children. A national online survey was performed in China. A total of 2054 Chinese parents of children aged 6–12 years were included in this study. They reported on measures that assessed hesitancy about children’s vaccination against COVID-19, PMT constructs (susceptibility, severity, response efficacy, self-efficacy, and response costs) and sociodemographic characteristics. Chinese parents reported a hesitancy rate of 29.4% for children’s vaccination. Parents with higher level education were more likely to hesitate to vaccinate their children against COVID-19.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 4 (COVID-19) vaccine on epileptic seizures, as well as its adverse effects, in children with epilepsy (< 18 years). This anonymous questionnaire study involved a multicenter prospective survey of outpatients and inpatients with epilepsy (＜18 years) registered in epilepsy clinics in 8 hospitals in six cities of Shandong Province.

Published data on COVID-19 mRNA vaccine–associated myopericarditis in adolescents and young adults have been derived from small case series, national population-based studies, or passive reporting systems. Pooled evidence from a larger, international cohort is scarce. This study aims to investigate the clinical features and early outcomes associated with myopericarditis after COVID-19 mRNA vaccination in a heterogeneous population of adolescents and young adults. PubMed and EMBASE were searched through August 2022. Language restrictions were not applied.

Vaccination has proved effective in mitigating Covid-19 transmission and severe infection. Sri Lanka has launched a programme to vaccinate children aged 12-18 years with chronic illnesses. However, vaccination of healthy children is under discussion. Acceptability of the vaccine would determine the success of the programme. This study aims to assess the acceptability of Covid-19 vaccine among parents of children without chronic illness at Teaching Hospital Karapitiya (THK) and selected Private Hospitals in the Galle District. A cross-sectional study was conducted among a convenient sample of 472 parents attending paediatric care at THK and selected private hospitals in the Galle District in 2021.

Despite COVID-19 vaccines being available to pregnant women in India since summer 2021, little is known about vaccine uptake among this high need population. We conducted mixed methods research with pregnant and recently delivered rural women in northern India, consisting of 300 phone surveys and 15 in-depth interviews, in November 2021. Only about a third of respondents were vaccinated, however, about half of unvaccinated respondents reported that they would get vaccinated now if they could. Fears of harm to the unborn baby or young infant were common (22% of unvaccinated women). However, among unvaccinated women who wanted to get vaccinated, the most common barrier reported was that their health care provider refused to provide them the vaccine. Gender barriers and social norms also played a role, with family members restricting women’s access. Trust in the health system was high, however, women were most often getting information about COVID-19 vaccines from sources that they did not trust, and they knew they were getting potentially poor-quality information. Qualitative data shed light on the barriers women faced from their family and health care providers but described how as more people got the vaccine that norms were changing.

In times of pandemic, health literacy (HL) is very important, as it helps to find, understand, and use essential health information and services. According to WHO, HL is pivotal in fighting infodemic effectively, and education is a vital tool for developing it. The presented work analyzed 247 educational materials dedicated to children, adolescents, and their carers explaining the pandemic, prepared by the Chinese, American, German, Italian and Polish governments and international non-governmental organizations. Focusing on the textual and visual side of the documents, it investigated how the pandemic is explained and what discursive measures were used to inform young citizens about the risks and consequences of pandemic restrictions. Additionally, it verified whether the materials helped developing critical thinking, which is crucial to prevent spreading fake news and conspiracy theories. Although the analyzed materials were prepared in different cultural contexts, this research identified that all of them contained simple instructions on the desired behaviours during the pandemic. Key messages relating to the importance of hygienic behaviors were often supplemented with guidelines on how to successfully complete each action.

Multiple vaccines have been tested in clinical trials for their efcacy and safety. In Saudi Arabia, Pfzer– BioNTech or Moderna were approved for children, however, previous studies to report their safety profle are limited. This research aims to understand the side efect of children’s vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 infection in Saudi Arabia. This was an observational retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted using an online survey in Saudi Arabia from March to May 2022. The inclusion criteria were parents aged 18 years and above who live in Saudi Arabia and have vaccinated their children. The self-reported questionnaire was adopted from published studies to investigate the study objectives Descriptive statistics were used to describe patients’ demographic characteristics, continuous data were reported as mean±S.D., categorical data were reported as percentages (frequencies), and logistic regression was used to identify predictors of persistent post-COVID-19 symptoms.

Children with chronic medical conditions are more susceptible to developing a serious negative outcome from corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) than healthy children. This study investigated the extent of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (VH) and its predictors in parents of children with chronic liver disease (CLD) in Egypt. A cross-sectional study was conducted at the National Liver Institute from September to October 2022, using a random sampling method. Data were collected using the validated Arabic version of parents’ attitudes about childhood vaccines (PACV) scale. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and discriminant analysis were used to identify direct and indirect determinants of VH.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial adverse impact on the health and well-being of populations in the United States (US) and globally. Although COVID-19 vaccine disparities among US adults aged ≥18 years are well documented, COVID-19 vaccination inequalities among US children are not well studied. Using the recent nationally representative data, this study examines disparities in COVID-19 vaccination among US children aged 5-17 years by a wide range of social determinants and parental characteristics. Using the US Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey from December 1, 2021 to April 11, 2022 (N=86,335), disparities in child vaccination rates by race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, health insurance, parental vaccination status, parental COVID-19 diagnosis, and metropolitan area were modeled by multivariate logistic regression.

The vaccination of children against Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a prime area of focus around the globe and is considered a pivotal challenge during the ongoing pandemic. This study aimed to assess parents′ intentions to vaccinate their children and the barriers related to pediatric COVID-19 vaccination. An online web-based survey was conducted to recruit parents with at least one child under the age of 12 years from Saudi Arabia’s Al-Jouf region. The parental intentions to vaccinate children were assessed via six items, while barriers against vaccination were assessed through seven items in validated study instrument. A 5-point Likert scale was used to record the responses of parents regarding both their intentions and barriers.

Omicron was declared as a variant of concern by WHO on 26 Nov 2021. Omicron is highly transmissible, but the disease severity and morbidity were lesser compared to the Delta variant. However, COVID-19 Vaccine efficacy was reduced for the Omicron variant whereas it was highly efficacious for the Delta variant. Hence, for evidence-based counseling in pregnant patients about expected outcomes depending on their vaccination status, this prospective cohort study was conducted. This study was conducted in Base Hospital Delhi Cantt, New Delhi, India during the third wave of SARS-CoV-2 i.e. from Jan 2022 to Mar 2022. All COVID-19-positive patients who were admitted for delivery were followed up till discharge from the hospital. The outcomes in terms of severity of COVID-19 infection, period of gestation at the time of delivery, intrapartum/postpartum complications, fetal distress, meconium staining of liquor, the requirement of neonatal intensive care unit admission were documented and data was analyzed to assess clinical severity of the disease in fully/partially vaccinated+unvaccinated women.

Post-COVID syndrome remains poorly studied in children and adolescents. Here, we aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of pediatric post-COVID in a population-based sample, stratifying by serological status. Children from the SEROCoV-KIDS cohort study (State of Geneva, Switzerland), aged 6 months to 17 years, were tested for anti-SARS-CoV-2 N antibodies (December 2021-February 2022) and parents filled in a questionnaire on persistent symptoms in their children (lasting over 12 weeks) compatible with post-COVID. Of 1034 children tested, 570 (55.1%) were seropositive.