McKinnon B, Quach C, Dubé E, Nguyen CT, Zinszer K. Social inequalities in COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake for children and adolescents in Montreal, Canada: a cross-sectional study, Vaccine, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.10.077
The results and/or conclusions contained in the research do not necessarily reflect the views of all CITF members.
As part of their CITF-funded COVID-19 cohort study, Dr. Kate Zinszer and Dr. Caroline Quach from the Université de Montréal, along with colleagues, examined whether parents from certain socioeconomic backgrounds or racialized groups were more – or less – inclined to have their child or adolescent vaccinated. In this peer-reviewed article published in Vaccine, 87.6% of parents reported that their child was vaccinated or likely to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Researchers used data collected at one point in time from the EnCORE study, an ongoing COVID-19 cohort study in Montreal, and collected information from 809 parents of 2- to 18-year-olds who completed an online questionnaire between May 18 and June 26, 2021. Most parents intended to vaccinate their children or teen against COVID-19 or had already done so. Only 12.4% of parents were unlikely to have their child vaccinated while only 3% of them reported distrust of vaccines in general.
Parents with younger children, those from lower-income households, racialized groups, and those born outside Canada were less likely to accept vaccination.
Researchers recognize the need to reach disadvantaged and marginalized populations with tailored strategies that promote informed decision-making as well as facilitating access to vaccination in response to these existing social inequities.