Parents' perception of COVID-19 risk of infection and intention to vaccinate their children

Parent's perception of the COVID-19 vaccines is very important to protect themselves and their children and achieve maximum effect of vaccination programs. Evaluate the perception and attitude of parents towards COVID-19 risk of infection and intentions to vaccinate their children. Cross-sectional study including 1032 participants who have children aged from 5 to 18 years using a structured questionnaire. Overall, 65.0% of participants or their family members suffered from comorbidities that poses them at risk for COVID-19 infection such as hypertension (25.1%) and diabetes mellitus (16.1%). The prevalence of tobacco smoking in the studied families was 36.9%. Among participants, 40.6% had a family member with history of confirmed COVID-19 infection. Nearly one-half of studied parents (48.2%) reported COVID-19 as a serious infection and the majority were worried about getting a family member infected (86.8%). Among participants 62.0% of male parents and 57.8% of female parents agreed that vaccine information is reliable. Participants reporting safety of COVID-19 vaccination represented 45.3%. If vaccine is available, 40.1% of parents intended to vaccinate their children. The main factors associated with the willingness to vaccinate children were vaccine is not suitable for children under 18 years (OR = 11.508), concern about vaccination safety (OR = 8.678), doubts about reliability of vaccine information (OR = 7.811) and ability of vaccine to prevent infection (OR = 5.766). Our study provides a brief insight about how parents think about COVID-19 vaccines and acceptance to vaccinate their children. La percepción de los padres sobre las vacunas contra el COVID-19 es muy importante para protegerse a sí mismos y a sus hijos y lograr el máximo efecto de los programas de vacunación. Evaluar la percepción y actitud de los padres hacia el riesgo de infección por COVID-19 y las intenciones de vacunar a sus hijos. Estudio transversal que incluyó a 1032 participantes que tenían hijos de 5 a 18 años mediante un cuestionario estructurado. En general, el 65,0% de los participantes o sus familiares padecieron comorbilidades que los ponen en riesgo de infección por COVID-19, como hipertensión (25,1%) y diabetes mellitus (16,1%). La prevalencia de tabaquismo en las familias estudiadas fue del 36,9%. Entre los participantes, el 40,6% tenía un familiar con antecedentes de infección confirmada por COVID-19. Casi la mitad de los padres estudiados (48,2%) informaron que la COVI