Children and COVID-19 Research Library

Although COVID-19–associated illness is generally mild in adolescents, they can experience severe health outcomes, including hospitalization and death.1 COVID-19 vaccinations are effective for preventing serious COVID-19–associated illness in adolescents.1 The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends persons aged 6 months or older receive COVID-19 vaccination.2 As of April 14, 2022, among US individuals aged 12 to 17 years, COVID-19 vaccination coverage (≥1 dose) was 68%,3 lower than for other vaccines routinely recommended for adolescents.4 The ACIP recommends adolescents aged 11 to 12 years receive tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis (Tdap), meningococcal conjugate (MenACWY), and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations.2 This cross-sectional study investigated associations between routine adolescent vaccination status and parental intent or hesitancy to get a COVID-19 vaccine for their adolescent. The National Immunization Survey–Child COVID Module (NIS-CCM) is a national telephone survey of households with children or adolescents aged 6 months to 17 years used to measure parent-reported COVID-19 vaccination coverage and intent to vaccinate their child.5 The NIS-CCM uses the NIS-Child sampling frame; for adolescents aged 13 to 17 years, it follows the NIS-Teen interview, allowing for analysis of both routine (HPV, MenACWY, and Tdap) and COVID-19 vaccination coverage.5 NIS-CCM interviews from July 22, 2021, through February 26, 2022, were analyzed. Survey respondents were those self-reporting being most knowledgeable about the child’s vaccinations (hereafter, parent). Vaccination status was based on parental report. Data were weighted to represent the noninstitutionalized population of US adolescents and calibrated to administered vaccinations data.3 Analyses were performed using SAS, version 9.4

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in the closure of schools to slow the spread of the virus across populations, and the administration of vaccines to protect people from severe disease, including school children and adolescents. In Zambia, there is currently little information on the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines among school-going children and adolescents despite their inclusion in the vaccination programme. This study assessed the knowledge, attitudes, and acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines among secondary school pupils in Lusaka, Zambia. A cross-sectional study was conducted from August 2022 to October 2022.

The aims of this study were to investigate parents’ COVID-19 fear and anxiety levels and determine the relationship between parents’ COVID-19 fear and anxiety levels and their attitudes and behaviors toward having themselves and their children vaccinated. This descriptive and cross-sectional type of research was conducted with 950 parents with 12–18 years old children.

To evaluate Chinese parents' willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19, identify its predictors, and provide a reference for raising the COVID-19 vaccination rate for children. PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and the databases in Chinese, including CNKI, WanFang, VIP, CBM, were searched from December 2019 to June 2022, and citation tracking was used to identify relevant studies. To calculate the rate with 95% confidence intervals (CI), a random-effects model was used. To explore sources of heterogeneity, sensitivity analysis and subgroup analysis were conducted. This analysis was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42022346866) and reported in compliance with the PRISMA guidelines.

This study aimed to explore perceptions and willingness to get coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) booster vaccination among pregnant and lactating women in Jordan. A cross-sectional study using a 29-item web-based questionnaire was conducted. Sociodemographic characteristics, vaccine acceptance, confidence in the booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine, perception of risk for COVID-19, and acceptance to participate in COVID-19 booster vaccine clinical trials were prospectively evaluated. Logistic regression was used to identify factors that might affect the participants’ acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccine and their willingness to enroll in clinical trials of a booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

Since the approval of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine for children in 2021, there had been ongoing debates about the necessity of vaccinating children, owing to the seemingly mild nature of the infection in children, despite causing significant morbidity and mortality in the 5-11 age group in 2020-2021, and its association with complications such as Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). This sparked the need to evaluate parents’ perceptions, knowledge, and the effect of information sources on their decision-making. It is important to understand the various drivers and concerns expressed by parents locally, to shape vaccination campaigns to address such issues. While numerous studies across the world have extensively investigated parental willingness and intention to vaccinate children against COVID-19, it is important to acknowledge that these studies have been conducted before COVID-19 vaccines became approved for children in the respective countries. There is an obvious scarcity of data on the parental knowledge, attitudes, and acceptance of the vaccine for children after the respective countries have approved and provided the vaccine. The present study aims to provide data that could reveal possible barriers to vaccine uptake such as deficits in knowledge, negative attitudes, and poor practices towards the COVID-19 pandemic, and hence address these factors to make the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination campaign, as well as future childhood vaccination campaigns, more successful.

This review provides an overview of childhood immunizations and discusses past pandemics particularly in LMIC, factors contributing to disparities in childhood immunizations, and reviews potential lessons to be learned from past pandemics. Vaccine hesitancy, social determinants of health, and best practices to help lessen the pandemic’s influence are also further elaborated. To address current challenges that hindered the progress made in prevention of childhood illnesses through vaccination campaigns and increased vaccine availability, lessons learned through best practices explored from past pandemics must be examined to mitigate impact of COVID-19 on childhood immunization and in turn conserve health and improve economic well-being of children especially in LMIC.

COVID-19 vaccines are recommended for pregnant and lactating individuals, and there is substantial evidence for their safety and effectiveness. As the pandemic continues, information on worries and beliefs surrounding perinatal COVID-19 vaccination remains important to inform efforts aimed at improving vaccine uptake. Our objectives were to assess factors associated with COVID-19 vaccination among perinatal individuals; and to explore motivational factors associated with willingness to be vaccinated among unvaccinated perinatal individuals. This was a cross-sectional web-based survey of preconception, pregnant, and lactating individuals in Canada. The outcomes of interest were vaccination with at least one dose of any COVID-19 vaccine and willingness to be vaccinated among unvaccinated individuals. Sample characteristics were summarized using frequencies and percentages. The association between eight prespecified risk factors and two outcomes (vaccination status and willingness to be vaccinated) was assessed by logistic regression. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for the total sample, and across perinatal sub-groups.

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.