Amal Naous, Zeina Naja, Noama El Husseini, Mohamad Zein ElCheikh Folfol, Lynn Saifeddine, Abdullah El Ghazzawi, Selim Alameddine, Charbel El Deek, Afaf El Katerji, Christin Berjaoui, Bilal Azakir
The COVID-19 pandemic affected people of all ages including children. Vaccinating children aids in the development of herd immunity. However, parental vaccine hesitancy remains a major limitation mainly due to concerns about the vaccine’s safety and efficacy, insufficient trials, and vaccine adverse effects. This study aims to determine parents’ willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 and to uncover parental concerns and perceptions about the vaccines. A cross-sectional online survey conducted in Lebanon between November 15, 2021, and April 2, 2022, and included 556 responses by non probability convenient sampling technique.Around 57.55% of the parents were willing to have their children vaccinated, and a high percentage believe the vaccine will be useful, effective, and important for their child’s and others’ health. Yet, half of the parents expressed concerns about potential long term health issues, major side effects, and vaccine’s novelty and accelerated development process. Although there is a generally positive attitude towards the vccine and its benefits, doubts and hesitancy about possible long-term health effects and vaccine’s novelty persist despite overall vaccine acceptance.