COVID-19 Vaccines for Children with Developmental Disabilities: Survey of New York State Parents' Willingness and Concerns

Differences in HPV Vaccine Information Usefulness and Understanding Between Parents With and Without a Child with Special Healthcare Needs

INTRODUCTION

Youth HPV vaccination rates have yet to reach the national goal of 80 percent. One understudied population with respect to the HPV vaccine is youth with special healthcare needs. This study seeks to understand differences in HPV vaccine health information preferences and ratings of narrative content of parents with children with special healthcare needs to inform future communication efforts to improve HPV vaccine rates.

METHODS

A national sample of U.S. parents and caregivers (N = 512) were recruited through Qualtrics panels. Parents completed a survey about their oldest child aged 9-14. Parents who answered yes to "Does this child need or use more medical, mental health, or education services than most children who are the same age?" were classified as having an index child with special healthcare needs. The survey also measured social media use and information seeking, narrative engagement, and perceptions of usefulness and understanding of vaccine messages.

RESULTS

Fifteen percent (N = 77) of parents indicated that their index child had special healthcare needs. These parents were more likely to have a male index child, report social media as a first source of health information, and report greater understanding of HPV vaccine information presented in the stimulus materials. There were no differences for most demographics, social media use, HPV vaccine information source, and perceived usefulness of the HPV vaccine information.

CONCLUSION

Overall, parents in this sample with and without an index child with special healthcare needs are similar in terms of how useful they found the materials. Parents with children who have special healthcare needs may have a greater preference for accessing information on social media, and may be better able to understand narrative health messages.

Willingness and hesitancy of parents to vaccinate against COVID-19 their children ages 6 months to 4 years with frail conditions in Italy

Background

In Italy, on December 2022, COVID-19 vaccination was recommended for children aged 6 months-4 years with frail conditions and for those healthy. The purposes of the survey were to understand parental willingness and hesitancy toward COVID-19 vaccination of children with frail conditions in Italy and related influencing factors.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was performed among 445 parents with a child aged 6 months-4 years with frail conditions who attended a teaching hospital and a public hospital randomly selected in the city of Naples, Italy.

Results

Almost one third (29.9%) were willing to vaccinate their frail children against COVID-19, whereas 21.3% were uncertain, and 48.8% did not intend to vaccinate. Parents with a higher level of perception that the vaccine is useful and safe and those who had received information by pediatrician were more likely to be willing to vaccinate their child. The mean Parent Attitudes About Childhood Vaccines (PACV-5) score was 3.4, with 13.5% of parents high-hesitant for the COVID-19 vaccination for their child. Parents with a higher COVID-19 vaccine-related safety concerns, those who have delayed at least one shot of a recommended vaccine for their child, and those who did not have received at least three doses of the vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 were more likely to be high-hesitant.

Conclusion

The survey findings have important implications for designing interventions to increase willingness and to reduce hesitancy for COVID-19 vaccine among parents of frail children aged 6 months-4 years in Italy.

Medical outcomes of children with neurodevelopmental disorders after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination: A six-month follow-up study

INTRODUCTION

The BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) and mRNA-1273 (Moderna) vaccines have been approved for children and adolescents for protecting against SARS-CoV-2 infection. This longitudinal study aimed to compare adverse outcomes after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in children with neurodevelopmental disorders (ND) (e.g., attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], autism spectrum disorder [ASD], communication disorders, intellectual disability, and tic disorders) and healthy control children.

METHODS

A total of 1335 children who received the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination (762 children with ND and 573 healthy controls) were recruited. All subjects were followed-up for 180 days, and outcome events were defined as outpatient department (OPD) or emergency department (ER) visits during follow-up. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to identify the potential differences in outcomes between the propensity score-matched ND group (n = 311) and the control group (n = 311), and to explore the factors associated with outcomes among all children with ND (n = 762).

RESULTS

Compared with the control group, children with ND exhibited a higher likelihood of subsequent OPD or ER visits and paediatric neurology OPD visits after the first dose of vaccination. However, we found that only a small proportion of the children visited the OPD or ER because of adverse vaccination-related effects. Among all children with ND, those with communication disorders showed a higher likelihood of any OPD or ER visit. Paediatric neurology OPD visits were associated with communication disorders, intellectual disability, and methylphenidate and aripiprazole prescriptions. ADHD and ASD were not associated with adverse outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

No specific ND diagnosis or medication use clearly increased the risk of adverse effects of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Children with ND can be reassured that the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination is a safe regimen to protect themselves.