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last may and june, a survey of 1,321 alberta mothers with children between the ages of nine and 12 asked if they intended to vaccinate their children. sixty per cent said they did intend to vaccinate, nine percent said they did not and 31 per cent were unsure. among the surprising findings: only about 60 per cent of families who had fairly complete infant vaccinations said they intended to vaccinate their child against covid.
social epidemiologist erin hetherington, the lead author of the study, said she expects that vaccine acceptance has changed since the survey was done. among the general adult population, those who did not intend to be vaccinated have maintained that opinion. those who were planning to be vaccinated have also maintained that opinion, she said.
“what has changed is those that were unsure. among those that were unsure in the early days of the pandemic, about half have said they now plan to vaccinate, while the other half remains unsure.”
hetherington has not seen any updated information on vaccine acceptance for children, but notes that vaccine acceptance is generally lower in younger people.
“so, we can expect that while acceptance may have improved somewhat since the early stages of the pandemic, it’s likely that this is lower for children than the general population.”
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