One-third of parents want to vaccinate 5- to 11-year-olds ‘right away’: report

One-third of parents want to vaccinate their 5- to 11-year-olds “right away” when the coronavirus vaccine is approved for their age group, according to a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation. 

The report found that 34 percent of parents polled will get their 5- to 11-year old children vaccinated immediately, with most of the interviews conducted before Pfizer released their clinical trial results for the age group in September. 

Thirty-two percent of respondents say they would want to “wait and see” before getting young children vaccinated, 7 percent would do so if it was required and 24 percent would “definitely not” get their kids vaccinated.

The percentage of those who would get their children vaccinated right away has gone up from a July survey by Kaiser, when 26 percent of parents said they would get their 5- to 11-year olds vaccinated right away when the vaccine was approved. 

The Pfizer vaccine is only authorized for those 12 and older. Forty-eight percent of those surveyed said they have had their 12- to 17-year old children vaccinated. 

The results follow a previous poll from Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index that showed parents are split on whether to get their young children vaccinated once it is approved for the age group.

The poll found 44 percent of respondents with kids ages five to 11 would get their children vaccinated while 42 percent would not. 

The Kaiser Family Foundation survey was conducted between Sept. 13 and Sept. 22. The group surveyed 1,519 people and reports a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.