In a study published in Pediatric Blood & Cancer, researchers reported that caregivers of childhood cancer survivors expressed high rates of vaccine hesitancy, especially if they lacked confidence in governmental COVID response.
The researchers conducted a survey of 130 caregivers of childhood cancer survivors, 21% of caregivers expressed hesitancy to vaccinate themselves and 29% expressed hesitancy to vaccinate their children who had survived cancer.
Caregivers who expressed confidence in the US government’s response to COVID were six times more likely to express willingness to self-vaccinate and were three times more likely to express willingness to vaccinate their children.
Caregivers who reported that they were hesitant to vaccinate cited concerns about the speed of COVID vaccine development and a lack of safety and efficacy data in children, particularly children with cancer.
“Results suggest that COVID vaccination outreach to hesitant caregivers might be more effective when delivered by non-governmental organisations, including paediatric oncology care teams,” said senior author Kyle Walsh, PhD, of the Duke Cancer Institute. “Such providers are well-positioned to discuss potential risks and benefits of vaccination and to update families as longer-term outcomes data emerge from vaccine trials and registries.”
Source: Wiley
