Two-thirds of Toronto parents ‘certain or somewhat likely’ to get young kids vaccinated against COVID-19, survey says
TORONTO – A whopping 68 per cent of Toronto parents are “certain or somewhat likely” to get their child a COVID-19 vaccination, according to a survey from an education advocacy group.
The survey was conducted last week from March 29 to April 6 and garnered responses from more than 9,000 people via phone and online.
Despite the pandemic, parents “are not afraid to vaccinate their children,” says the survey about parents’ decisions about their children’s vaccination and their plans to vaccinate them.
Vaccination rates have been declining in major Canadian provincial and federal election years. A similar trend was observed across the United States when parents were asked why they did not vaccinate their children.
The survey, released on Tuesday, also showed parents are more worried about the effects of a pandemic – especially the effects on the economy and the health of the economy than other factors.
In all, 45 per cent of parents were worried about the economy, 25 per cent about the health of the economy, 20 per cent about the impact of the disease on their children’s life and 23 per cent about the effects of the pandemic on their family.
At the same time, the survey also showed parents are very concerned about the safety of vaccines.
Of those who said they are worried about the safety of vaccines, 54 per cent said they are also worried about the efficacy of vaccines.
Meanwhile, parents had concerns about both “reimbursement” of vaccine costs and “overall healthfulness” of vaccines.
A breakdown of survey results showed parents are more concerned about “reimbursement” of vaccine costs and “overall healthfulness” of vaccines than “effectiveness” of vaccines.
For example, 58 per cent of parents are worried about the overall safety of vaccines, 58 per cent about the overall healthfulness of vaccinations and 55 per cent about “reimbursement” of vaccine costs.