41% parents unwilling to vaccinate kids aged 6-12 against Covid-19: Survey

Key causes of hesitancy among parents for vaccinating their kids include concerns about side effects and lack of effective adverse events tracking system

As much as 41 per cent of parents in India are currently unwilling to vaccinate their children aged 6-12 years, according to a survey by LocalCircles, a community-based social media platform.

The survey received 18,500 responses from parents residing in 345 districts of India. Sixty-two per cent of the participants were men while 38 per cent were women. Forty-four per cent of respondents were from tier-1 districts, 31 per cent from tier 2 and 25 per cent of respondents were from tier-3, 4 and rural districts.

There were two questions. The first was "when would you be willing to give Covid vaccine to your children between the ages of 6-12?"

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As many as 9,656 parents took this question. Of them, 51 per cent said, "Immediately or as soon as it is available". Eighteen per cent said they will wait '0-3 months', and 8 per cent will wait 3-6 months after it becomes available for this age group. Only 3 per cent of parents said, "Will be giving an alternate vaccine". Twelve per cent of parents said they "will not be giving Covid vaccine to my children/grandchildren for now". Eight per cent of parents were undecided.

On an aggregate basis, 41 per cent of parents of children aged 6-12 are currently unwilling to give Covid vaccine to their children immediately.

Key causes of hesitancy among parents for vaccinating their kids include concerns about side effects, lack of effective adverse events tracking system and concerns about whether the current vaccines will protect from Omicron sub-variants.

Some of the hesitant parents have expressed that their child’s school is demanding proof of Covid vaccination citing government guidelines.

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Citing the Supreme Court's order against forced vaccination, some hesitant parents said they would go to court if a state government or school mandates the Covid vaccine for children.

Another 8,940 parents took the second question: "Given that Covid vaccination for children aged 6-12 has commenced, should the government create an SMS-based feedback system for parents to report side effects?"

As much as 92 per cent of the respondents said yes.

The system should track children three, 15, 30 and 90 days after they take the Covid vaccine.

Mohammed Shakeel, president of Voice of Parents, Karnataka, which counts about 6,000 parents as its members across the state, told DH: I am not giving the vaccine due to unknown side effects, especially coagulation and lack of trial data. One of my children is in the 6 to 12 years age group going to Class 5, and the other is in the 15 to 17 years age group going to II PU."