Half of parents say their teen received COVID-19 shot as uptake slows: KFF poll

About half of parents said their 12 to 17-year-old has gotten at least one COVID-19 dose as the vaccination uptake among the age group has slowed in recent months, a Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) poll found.

The November survey determined that 49 percent of parents said their 12 to 17 year olds received at least one shot, and just 1 percent of these parents plan to get their children vaccinated right away, according to an update to KFF’s Vaccine Monitor published on Thursday.

Those percentages align with results from September and October, indicating the vaccination rate has flattened within the teenage age group in the fall after eligibility expanded to adolescents in the spring. 

Thirteen percent of parents of teenagers said they want to “wait and see” before getting them vaccinated, and three in 10 parents said their adolescents would “definitely not” get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Among parents with 5 to 11 year olds, 16 percent said their child had gotten at least their first shot during the first month the vaccines were available to the age group, while 13 percent said they plan to get their child vaccinated right away. 

Still, almost a third of these parents said they expect to “wait and see,” and another 29 percent said their child will “definitely not” get vaccinated.

Liz Hamel, KFF’s vice president and director of public opinion and survey research, said the data indicates that parents are taking a “more cautious approach” to COVID-19 vaccines for their children. 

“The younger the child, the more sort of caution we see in terms of parents’ approach,” she said.

“As we’ve seen with teens, I think with younger kids as well it’s gonna take longer for parents to come around to the decision,” she said. “And I expect the uptake to be slower than it was among adults.”

Similar to adults, parents’ views on COVID-19 vaccinations for children are split among partisan lines. 

Eighty percent of Democrats said their adolescent had gotten their shot, compared to almost half of independents and a quarter of Republicans. Half of Republicans said their 12 to 17-year-old will “definitely not” get their COVID-19 shots.

While a majority of parents see COVID-19 as a greater risk than the vaccine, 39 percent of parents of adolescents and 41 percent of parents of 5 to 11 year olds said the vaccine poses a bigger risk. 

Americans have less confidence in the COVID-19 vaccines’ safety for children than for adults, with about half expressing confidence in their safety for adolescents and 43 percent saying the same for 5 to 11 year olds. Two-thirds of parents said they are confident in the vaccines’ safety for adults. 

Most parents said there’s not enough information about the vaccines’ effectiveness, side effects and safety in children, despite scientific organizations nationwide and worldwide having designated the shots safe and effective for children. 

But majorities of both vaccinated and unvaccinated parents said they have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust in their child’s pediatrician to give information about the vaccine, although less than half of parents have consulted them about the shots.

KFF surveyed 1,196 parents between Nov. 8 and 23, with a margin of error of 5 percentage points.

KFF conducted the poll ahead of the emergence of the omicron strain that the World Health Organization has designated as a variant of concern, which researchers said could alter parents’ vaccination plans. 

“Surges particularly in hospitalizations and deaths have in the past been a motivator for people to get vaccinated,” Hamel said. “But I think we just don’t know what might be happening with this new variant yet.”