September 27, 2021

Willingness of children and adolescents to have a COVID-19 vaccination

Previous data on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy amongst children has been mostly limited to parent opinion. As the UK COVID-19 vaccination program is rolled out in children aged 12 and over there is increased interest in the views of children themselves on vaccination.

In this study published in EClinicalMedicine, the researchers used results from a large school-based self-report survey of over 27,000 students to investigate the willingness of children to have a COVID-19 vaccination and the characteristics of those who were hesitant.

Journalists dialled in to the briefing to hear the study investigators present their results and answer any questions.

Speakers included:

Dr Mina Fazel, Associate Professor in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Oxford

Prof Russell Viner, Professor of Child and Adolescent Health, UCL

Prof Sir Andrew Pollard, Professor of Paediatric Infection and Immunity, University of Oxford

This Briefing was accompanied by an SMC Roundup of Comments.