More than 60 percent of Canadian parents say they do not plan to keep their children up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccines, with 41 percent expressing hesitancy to do so, research suggests.
A Public Health Agency of Canada survey found that only 17.5 percent of parents said they would “definitely” keep their children’s COVID vaccine status current while 23 percent said they ”probably” would.
A total of 28 percent said they “definitely won’t” keep their kids up-to-date while 25.5 percent said they ”probably won’t,” according to the survey, first covered by Blacklock’s Reporter. An additional 6 percent said they were not sure of their vaccine plans.
When parents were asked if they have ever been hesitant to vaccinate their children against COVID-19, 21 percent said they were “very hesitant,” 19.5 percent said they were “somewhat hesitant,” and 57 percent said they were “not at all hesitant or not very hesitant.”
When parents were asked about their reluctance to have their children receive additional COVID-19 vaccinations, they expressed concern “there was not enough research on the vaccine,” questioned its effectiveness, voiced “mistrust in COVID-19 vaccine related information,” or said their doctor had not discussed it with them.
The data also showed 42 percent of parents had declined an annual flu shot for their children. Asked why, 16 percent said they had “concerns about the side effects,” 12 percent said they believed the vaccine did not work, 6 percent said they were concerned about their children receiving a flu shot at the same time as the other shot, and 4.5 percent said their child was not at risk.
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The October 2024 findings were taken from questionnaires with 11,258 parents across Canada. The Public Health Agency paid $292,727 for the report by Advanis Inc.
The report followed 2023 data that confirmed 26 percent of parents with young children declined the COVID-19 shots, even at the height of the pandemic. The Department of Health licenced a Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine for children as young as 5 years old in November 2021.
A 2022 Privy Council report found the parents of kindergartners resented being made to “feel guilty” by federal regulators in declining COVID shots. The report said many parents had several questions about the vaccines’ side effects and the potential long-term implications of their use.
“While a number of participants expressed that they would likely get their children vaccinated against COVID-19 at some point, most were in no rush to do so,” the report said.
The parents’ sentiments were in part due to the “general impression that the virus was becoming less dangerous with each additional variant” and that children were at a low risk of complications.
