Background: On 18 June 2022, Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines were authorized under an Emergency Use Authorization by the United States Food and Drug Administration to prevent severe coronavirus disease in children six months to four years of age. Despite approval of the COVID-19 vaccinations for young children, there remain ongoing challenges reaching widespread coverage due to parental decision-making. Parental decision-making plays a pivotal, yet understudied, role governing vaccine adoption among this priority demographic. Methods: This cross-sectional analysis examined COVID-19 vaccine intentions for 320 predominately Hispanic parents of two to five-year-olds attending Miami-Dade County childcare programs in Florida USA, several months following the June 2022 emergency authorization. Parent's self-reported survey data encompassed vaccine choices and rationales, social determinants of health, and parent immigrant status. Data analyses illustrate the associations between parent decision-making and these variables. Regression modeling and tests of independence identified predicting factors for parental vaccine decision-making. Results: Only 25% of parents intended to vaccinate their young child, while 34% resisted and 41% felt unsure, despite 70% personal vaccination rates. Household income under $25,000, identifying as a migrant, or testing COVID-19-positive significantly predicted unsure decision-making. The majority of hesitant groups expressed concerns around side effects (20%), safety (2.9%), and sufficiency of vaccine knowledge (3.3%). Conclusions: In this sample, the predominance of parents were unsure and resistant rather than accepting of having their child vaccinated despite emergency approval of the pediatric vaccine. Associations and predictive factors are examined.
Keywords: COVID-19 vaccination; childcare programs; children under five; migrants; parent acculturation; parental decision-making; social determinants of health.