Parent survey gives vaccine insights
The Boost Up project included a statewide survey of 1,342 parents of children ages 6 months to 17 years in Massachusetts, including oversamples of Black, Latino, and Asian parents. The survey was conducted March 11-26, 2023, via live telephone and online interviewing in English and Spanish and was funded by the State of Massachusetts via the Massachusetts Bureau of Infectious Diseases and Laboratory Sciences. Major design input was provided by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The survey shows that pediatricians and policymakers can play an important role in increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates for children. Findings include:
Removing barriers to child vaccine access
For making getting the COVID-19 vaccine easier, drop-in appointments and the family getting vaccinated at the same time were the most popular among survey respondents.
- Just under half (47%) of those with unvaccinated children do not think that any of these options would make getting their children vaccinated easier.
Encouraging parent/whole-family vaccination
Parents who are fully vaccinated themselves think the vaccine is safer for all age groups, so encouraging parent vaccination will help with pediatric vaccination rates as well.
UNICEF’s Vaccine Messaging Guide (downloadable as a PDF:
https://www.unicef.org/documents/vaccine-messaging-guide) can be used by all communications and advocacy colleagues to help develop messaging and content that can help build confidence and trust in vaccines.