Parental Willingness and Factors Influencing COVID-19 Vaccination for Children in Saudi Arabia.

PURPOSE: The study aimed to examine the parents' willingness and its association with demographic factors, attitudes, and practices to vaccinate their child against COVID-19.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study involved 2500 participants from various regions of Saudi Arabia and was conducted between July 1, 2021, and August 31, 2021. Information was gathered via an online questionnaire comprising 26 questions, distributed across social media platforms. Informed consent was obtained from all participants before the commencement of the study. A chi-square test was applied to analyze the association among variables, utilizing a subset of 2127 participants based on study inclusion criteria. A chi-square test was applied to observe the association.

RESULTS: The willingness of parents to vaccinae their children against COVID-19 was found 61%. The main reason for taking was "Protect the child" by 1094 (51.4%%) and the main reason for refusing was "Side effects/safety concerns" by 477 (22.4%). 1846 (86.8%) participants, received the COVID-19 vaccine or were planning to receive it.

CONCLUSION: Our study concluded that parent's willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 was relatively high in our sample as about two-thirds of them accept the vaccine for their child once it is available. The use of the health belief model demonstrated the urgent requirement for awareness and education campaigns in the private and public sectors to increase awareness of parents not only related to COVID-19 but also to cater to any unexpected or suspected pandemic of infectious disease in the future full capacity.