Parents' and Guardians' Willingness to Vaccinate Their Children against COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

COVID-19 vaccination for children is crucial to achieve herd immunity. This is the first systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate parents' and guardians' willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 and identify the determinants of vaccination intention. Systematic research was performed on the two databases (PubMed and EMBASE) from inception to 6 November 2021. Acceptance rates were pooled by use of a random-effects model and all predictors of vaccine acceptance were identified according to the health belief model (HBM) framework. This analysis was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42021292326) and reported in compliance with the PRISMA guidelines. Of 452 identified records, 29 eligible studies were included (N = 68,327 participants). The estimated worldwide vaccination acceptance rate was 61.40% (95% CI: 53.56-68.69%, I-2 = 99.3%), ranging from 21.6% to 91.4% across countries and regions. In the determinant assessment, the age of parents and guardians, access to scientific information and recommendations, routine and influenza vaccination behavior, and the willingness of parents and guardians to vaccinate themselves were potentially significant predictors of the vaccination willingness. Given the limited quality and quantity of included articles, future studies with a rigorous design will be necessary for the confirmation of our findings.

Automated summary

COVID-19 vaccination acceptance among children was examined in a systematic review and meta-analysis. The worldwide estimated acceptance rate was 61.4%, ranging from 21.6% to 91.4%. Factors such as parental age, access to scientific information and recommendations, routine and influenza vaccination behavior, and willingness to vaccinate themselves were found to be significant predictors of vaccination intention.