Receipt of COVID-19 vaccine in preterm-born children aged 3-7 in China

Dan Wang; Li Li; Xiaofeng Ma; Yunfeng Lin; Liping Chen; Arigonggaowa; Xianglian Peng; Jingyun Shi; Jie Yang; Rong Ju; Zhankui Li; Jingke Cao; Changgen Liu; Zhichun Feng; Qiuping Li

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1191941

Receipt of COVID-19 vaccine in preterm-born children aged 3-7 in China

Front Public Health. 2023 Jul 20:11:1191941. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1191941. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Dan Wang^#^{1

2}, Li Li^#³, Xiaofeng Ma^#³, Yunfeng Lin^{4

5

6}, Liping Chen⁷, Arigonggaowa⁸, Xianglian Peng⁹, Jingyun Shi¹⁰, Jie Yang¹¹, Rong Ju¹², Zhankui Li¹³, Jingke Cao^{1

2}, Changgen Liu^{1

2}, Zhichun Feng^{1

2}, Qiuping Li¹

Affiliations

¹ Newborn Intensive Care Unit, Faculty of Pediatrics, The Seventh Medical Center of Chinese People's Liberation Army (CPLA) General Hospital, Beijing, China.
² The Second School of Clinical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, Department of Biostatistics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Research, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
⁴ Department of Neonatology, Fujian Children's Hospital (Fujian Branch of Shanghai Children's Medical Center), College of Clinical Medicine for Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China.
⁵ Department of Neonatology, Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital, College of Clinical Medicine for Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China.
⁶ Fujian Key Laboratory of Women and Children's Critical Diseases Research (Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital), Fuzhou, China.
⁷ Newborn Intensive Care Unit, Jiangxi Provincial Children's Hospital, Nanchang, China.
⁸ Department of Neonatology, Inner Mongolia Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Hohhot, China.
⁹ Department of Neonatology, Hunan Provincial Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Changsha, China.
¹⁰ Department of Neonatology, Gansu Provincial Maternal and Child Hospital, Lanzhou, China.
¹¹ Department of Neonatology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
¹² Department of Neonatology, Chengdu Women's and Children's Central Hospital, School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
¹³ Department of Neonatology, Northwest Women's and Children's Hospital (Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital of Shaanxi Province), Xi'an, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Objectives: To determine the COVID-19 vaccination rate in preterm-born children aged 3-7 in China and influential factors, identify vaccination-related adverse reactions, and clarify reasons behind parental refusal of vaccination to their children.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in parents of preterm-born children aged 3-7 in different regions of China through WeChat.

Results: Of 1,924 Chinese preterm-born children aged 3-7 included in this study, 1,552 (80.7%) had been vaccinated against COVID-19, with a higher vaccination rate in eastern China. Children older than 4 years, kids in kindergartens and primary schools, children living in eastern or western China, and children whose fathers had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine tended to be vaccinated against COVID-19 after adjusting for other covariates. Conversely, children living in urban areas, children whose annual family income was < 50,000 CNY or more than 300,000 CNY, premature children who underwent hospital transfers, and children with underlying diseases were less likely to get vaccinated. Adverse reactions occurred in 59/1,552 (3.8%) vaccinated children. Parents of 118/372 (31.7%) children expressed their concerns over adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccination. Other reasons like the absence of information about the place where they could get vaccination were mentioned as well.

Conclusions: COVID-19 vaccination-related adverse reactions rarely occurred and most of them were mild among preterm-born children aged 3-7. Higher vaccination coverage can be achieved as parents are provided with more scientific data about benefits of vaccination, vaccination contraindications and precautions, and more information about vaccination sites.

Keywords: COVID-19; inactivated vaccine; pediatrics; preterm-born children; vaccination.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19 Vaccines*
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Child
Child, Preschool
China
Cross-Sectional Studies
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Vaccination

Substances

COVID-19 Vaccines

Grants and funding

This study was supported by National Key R&D Program of China (2021YFC2701702 to QL). The study sponsor had no role in study design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data, the writing of the report, and the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.