Factors Associated with Receipt and Parental Intent for COVID-19 Vaccination of Children Ages 5–11 years

Background and Objectives COVID-19 vaccine was first recommended for children ages 5–11 years on November 2, 2021. This report describes COVID-19 vaccination coverage and parental intent to vaccinate their child ages 5–11 years, overall, by sociodemographic characteristics, and by social and behavioral drivers of vaccination, the fourth month after recommendation. Methods We analyzed data from 5,438 interviews conducted in February 2022 from the National Immunization Survey-Child COVID Module (NIS-CCM), a national random-digit-dial cellular telephone survey of households with children. Results 30.9% of children ages 5–11 were vaccinated with ≥1 dose of COVID-19 vaccine, 35.2% were unvaccinated and the parent reported they probably or definitely would get the child vaccinated or were unsure, and 33.9% were unvaccinated and the parent probably or definitely would not get the child vaccinated. Vaccination coverage and parental intent differed by sociodemographic variables, including income, health insurance status, and rurality. Parental intent to vaccinate children also differed by ethnicity and race. Concern about the child getting COVID-19 and confidence in vaccine importance and safety were positively associated with vaccination receipt and intent to get the child vaccinated. Conclusions By the fourth month of the COVID-19 vaccination program for children ages 5–11 years, less than one-third were vaccinated, and coverage was lower for some sociodemographic subgroups. An additional one-third of children had a parent who was open to vaccinating the child. Efforts to address parental concerns regarding vaccine safety and to convey the importance of the vaccine might improve vaccination coverage. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement This study did not receive any funding. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: The IRBs of both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and NORC at the University of Chicago gave approval for conduct of the National Immunization Survey-Child COVID-19 Module used for this study. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes The data used in this study are not released as public use datasets but can be accessed within a National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Research Data Center.