Reasons underlying the intention to vaccinate children aged 5-11 against COVID-19: A cross-sectional study of parents in Israel, November 2021

Figures & data

Figure 1. Social media outreach results, including initial post impressions attrition, exclusion criteria, and conversion rate to clicks.

Table 1. Parental socio-demographic background and vaccination history and intention to vaccinate.

		Number of respondents	Number intending to vaccinate their 5–11-year-old child	Percent intending to vaccinate their 5-11-year-old child	95% CI	Unadjusted OR	Unadjusted OR 95%CI	P value	Adjusted OR*	Adjusted OR 95%CI	P value
Total		1837	801	43.6	41.3–45.9	-	-		-	-
Parent sex	Female	891	422	47.4	44–50.7	baseline
	Male	946	379	40.1	36.9–43.2	0.74	0.62–0.89	0.002	0.75	0.6–0.94	0.01
Parent age	>35	1309	594	45.4	42.6–48.1	baseline
	≤35	528	207	39.2	35–43.5	0.78	0.74–0.93	0.02	0.85	0.67–1.1	0.2
Number of children	One child	421	161	38.2	33.6–43.1	0.75	0.6–0.94	0.01	0.74	0.57–0.96	0.02
	> one child	1416	640	45.2	42.6–47.8	baseline
Household composition	Two parents	1568	669	42.7	40.2–45.1	0.77	0.6-1	0.05	0.8	0.59–1.1	0.2
	Not two parents	269	132	49.1	42.9–55.2	baseline
Parent education level	High school or under	379	161	42.5	37.4–47.6	baseline
	Bachelor’s degree	1155	525	45.5	42.5–48.4	1.13	0.89–1.4	0.3	-	-	-
	Higher degree	303	115	38.0	32.5–43.7	0.83	0.61–1.13	0.2	-	-	-
Resident area	Center	1103	508	46.1	43.1-49	baseline
	Periphery	734	293	39.9	36.3–43.6	0.78	0.64–0.94	0.01	0.73	0.59–0.92	0.006
Parent ethnicity	Non-Arab Israeli	1298	611	47.1	44.3–49.8	baseline
	Arab Israeli	469	159	33.9	29.6–38.4	0.58	0.46–0.72	<0.001	0.65	0.51–0.84	0.001
	Other	70	31	44.3	32.4–56.7	0.89	0.55–1.45	0.6	1.3	0.71–2.3	0.4
Parent COVID-19 vaccination status	3 vaccine doses	578	357	61.8	57.7–65.7	baseline
	2 vaccine doses	728	351	48.2	44.5–51.9	0.57	0.46–0.72	<0.001	0.61	0.49–0.77	<0.001
	1 vaccine doses	125	40	32.0	23.9–40.9	0.29	0.19–0.43	<0.001	0.29	0.19–0.45	<0.001
	Not vaccinated	406	53	13.1	9.9–16.7	0.09	0.07–0.13	<0.001	0.09	0.07–0.13	<0.001
Parent COVID-19 vaccination side effects	Yes: major	112	22	19.6	12.7–28.2	0.18	0.11–0.29	<0.001	0.19	0.11–0.31	<0.001
	Yes: minor	546	279	51.1	46.8–55.3	0.76	0.61–0.95	0.02	0.76	0.60–0.95	0.02
	No	773	447	57.8	54.2–61.3	baseline
	Missing data	406

For variable significance in the univariate analysis, adjusted for other significant variables.

Table 2. Stated reasons given by parents for intention or refusal to vaccinate their children, Israel, November 2021.

		n	%	95% CI
I want to vaccinate my child … (n=801)	to return to normal life and activities	713	89	86.6–91.1
	to loss and secure income	624	77.9	74.8–80.7
	to protect others	560	69.9	66.6–73.1
	to protect my child	448	55.9	52.4–59.4
	because the vaccine is safe	304	37.9	34.6–41.4
I don’t want to vaccinate my child … (n=1036)	because COVID-19 is a mild illness	788	76.1	73.3–78.6
	because of vaccine safety concerns	550	53.1	50–56.2
	because I don’t trust the government	435	42	39-45
	because I don’t trust the Ministry of Health	217	21	18.5–23.5
	because I think COVID-19 is a conspiracy	145	14	11.9–16.2

Table

1. Gender Male Female

2. Age ≤35 >35

3. Children aged 5-11 One child Two or more

4. Parents Two parents Other

5. Education Undergraduate Bachelor Higher degree

6. Resident Center Tel Aviv Jerusalem Haifa North South

For analysis purposes, the residency areas were grouped accordingly: Center = Center, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa Periphery = North and South

7. Ethnicity Arab Israeli Non-Arab Israeli Others

8. COVID-19 vaccine doses One vaccine Two vaccines Three vaccines None

9. Vaccine side effects Major Minor No side effect

10. Intention to vaccinatechild Yes No

Table

Reasons to vaccinate my child
11. Return to normal life and activities	Major reason	Not a reason
12. Secure income and avoid job loss	Major reason	Not a reason
13. Protect others	Major reason	Not a reason
14. Protect child	Major reason	Not a reason
15. Vaccine is safe	Major reason	Not a reason
Other: ________________________________________________

Table

Reasons not to vaccinate my child
16. Believe that COVID-19 leads to mild illness in children	Major reason	Not a reason
17. Concerned about COVID-19 vaccine safety/side-effect for children	Major reason	Not a reason
18. Distrust in government decisions for vaccinating children	Major reason	Not a reason
19. Distrust in health ministry	Major reason	Not a reason
20. Other: ________________________________________________

Data availability statement

Data is available upon request from the corresponding author.