In some heartening news on the COVID vaccine for kids front, two-thirds of American parents of children ages 5 to 11 plan to get their youngsters vaccinated when COVID-19 shots are approved for that age group, a new survey shows. However, more Black (49%) and Hispanic (47%) parents were “very worried” about their child contracting the virus than white parents (33%).
Nearly half (49%) of parents in the South were “very worried” about their child getting COVID-19, compared with 32% of those in the Northeast, and 30% of those in the Midwest and West.
Additionally, the region where the parents live played a major part in their hesitancy to get their child vaccinated.
Overall, 60% of the respondents supported schools requiring eligible children to get a vaccine to attend school in person.
Rates were 78% among vaccinated parents and 86% among parents of children ages 12 to 18 who have already been vaccinated.
A majority of parents in the West (69%), Northeast (63%), and South (60%) supported in-school vaccination requirements, but support was only 48% among parents in the Midwest.
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Why the hesitancy?
Overall, 77% of parents were at least somewhat worried that their child could get COVID-19, but that varied depending on