Vaccines research: Looking at why some people get vaccinated and some do not

Views on children getting vaccinated

Most parents felt their children agreed with them about getting a Covid-19 vaccine.

Older children were more likely to be more involved in decision making compared to younger children.

Parents who had strong views about the Covid-19 vaccination also had strong views about their children getting the Covid-19 vaccination.

Parents who had not had any Covid-19 vaccinations did not want their children to have the vaccine.

Views were different for parents who had got the Covid-19 vaccination but were not confident about their children getting it.

There were two main reasons for this:

- people thought children did not need the vaccine because they were not likely to catch Covid-19 or to be very ill if they did catch it

- people felt they had taken a risk by getting a new vaccine

They did not feel comfortable making this decision for their children.

Parents were worried that getting children vaccinated would affect:

- puberty – the way a child's body changes from childhood to adulthood

- fertility - how easily they might have a baby in the future

Most parents were more comfortable with children getting a flu vaccine than a Covid-19 vaccine.