Vaccine Hesitancy Trends from 2019 to 2022 Evaluated

Vaccine hesitancy is increasing, and caregivers of hospitalized children were less concerned about influenza than during pre-pandemic times, according to research presented at IDWeek 2022, held October 19 to 23 in Washington, D.C. The intention to vaccinate children against COVID-19 is also “suboptimal.”

Vaccine hesitancy is a problem that widely affects public health—in particular, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Influenza vaccine uptake is seeing a similar trend, with fewer people getting vaccinated.

Investigators conducted a repeated, cross-sectional study in both English and Spanish to evaluate trends in vaccine hesitancy with COVID-19 vaccines, influenza vaccines, and other routine childhood immunizations. Researchers aimed to gauge influenza and COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and VH in hospitalized children at a pediatric medical institution. The children of the participating caregivers ranged in age from 6 months to 18 years old.

Participants were enrolled across 3 flu seasons, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022. A Parent Attitudes about Childhood Vaccines survey was given to measure vaccine hesitancy, with a score of 50 or more indicating vaccine hesitancy.

Most parents (45%) were Hispanic/Latino, 35% were White, and 20% were Black/African American. In the first flu season, 94% of children were up-to-date with routine childhood vaccines; 91% were up-to-date in seasons 2 and 3.

Based on survey scores, 13% of parents were vaccine hesitant in season 1, 17% were vaccine hesitant in season 2, and 19% were vaccine hesitant in season 3. Approximately 70% had, or planned to have, their children vaccinated against influenza.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, caregivers were less likely to believe that the flu can be dangerous to children and less likely to agree that children over 6 months old should receive the influenza vaccine every year.

“Our results suggest a trend that [vaccine hesitancy] may be increasing,” the researchers concluded.

Reference

1. Orbea M, Cunningham R, Healy C, Boom J, Bocchini C. Influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and routine childhood vaccines – trends in vaccine hesitancy in hospitalized children before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Presented at: IDWeek 2022; October 19-23, 2022, Washington, D.C. Poster 580.