Just more than four in 10 parents of children age 12-15 (43%) say they would be willing to let their child receive a COVID-19 vaccination, while another 27% say they are “not sure” and 29% say they would not let their child be vaccinated. These data come from a new survey conducted from April 26 - May 2 by SurveyMonkey and Outbreaks Near Me, with responses from 9,047 parents with children under age 18 across the U.S.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to announce its authorization for the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents ages 12 to 15 next week, after clinical trials showed the drug to be at least as effective in that age group as it is for adults. Canada yesterday authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use in adolescents in that same age group.
Parents’ willingness to allow their children to be vaccinated will likely increase as the Pfizer vaccine (and others) gain FDA approval. The Pfizer vaccine is already approved for ages 16+, and more than half of parents with children ages 16-17 (53%) now say they would let their child get vaccinated.
Parents with younger children are less willing to allow their children to receive a vaccine: just 33% of parents with children ages 5-11 and 23% of parents with children under age 5 say they would let their child get vaccinated.
Parents who have already received a vaccine themselves are significantly more likely to allow their children to get vaccinated: 80% would let their 16-17 year-olds get vaccinated, and 68% would let their 12-15 year-olds get vaccinated. Similarly, 62% of parents who haven’t yet been vaccinated but who plan to do so say they would let their children age 16-17 get vaccinated, and 56% would let their children ages 12-15 get vaccinated.
Parents who do not plan to get vaccinated themselves will not allow their children—of any age—to get vaccinated either. About nine in 10 parents who do not plan to get vaccinated say they won’t allow their 16-17 year-olds (88%), their 12-15 year-olds (90%), their 5-11 year-olds (92%), or their children under age 5 (93%) to be vaccinated for COVID-19.
Explore the data more by visiting our Tableau dashboard.
