Close to half of parents would accept less rigorous testing of COVID-19 vaccine: study
Posted Oct 7, 2020 12:22 pm.
Last Updated Oct 7, 2020 1:27 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Almost half of parents would be willing to give their kids an expedited COVID-19 vaccine with less vigorous testing behind it, according to a new study from UBC.
The study, recently published in Clinical Therapeutics, found 43 per cent of parents globally are in favour of modifying vaccination standards in order to get it to their children faster. Many were willing to do the same if they were worried that they had COVID-19 at the time they completed the survey.
“While the safety of vaccines given to children is paramount, our study indicates that parents are eager to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 and many are supportive of expedited vaccine research development and regulatory approval,” says Dr. Ran Goldman, the study’s lead author and a professor in the UBC faculty of medicine’s department of pediatrics.
More than half of dads are in favour of this idea, with moms generally more hesitant.
The study also found that parents were more willing to accept less rigorous testing if they had children who were up-to-date on their vaccinations, and if they plan to immunize their children when a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available.
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The survey revealed further that families reporting a loss of income during the pandemic were not in favour of modifying approval regulations.
“Understanding parents’ attitudes to an expedited COVID-19 vaccine is imperative in helping inform public health strategy and ultimately improve vaccine acceptance,” says Goldman.
Since January, more than 180 COVID-19 vaccine candidates have been developed, but none have been approved for the public.
The study surveyed more than 2,500 families from Canada, Israel, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States who visited 17 different emergency departments between March and June.
