COVID-19 Parental Vaccine Hesitancy: The Role of Trust in Science and Conspiracy Beliefs

Parent vaccine hesitancy is a sensitive topic despite the benefits associated with children's vaccination. Especially regarding the COVID-19 vaccination, parents displayed concerns about children's vaccination, questioning their effectiveness and security. Although several studies were conducted on the general population, few studies investigated this relationship on parents' intentions.

An online survey was advertised from May to December 2022 on social networks, collecting data from 109 participants (90% F; mean age: 41.34 years, SD: ±6.40). The survey assessed sociodemographic characteristics, vaccine hesitancy through the Parents Attitude towards Childhood Vaccine-PAVC, trust in science through the Belief in Science Scale-BISS, and conspiracy beliefs through the Generic Conspiracist Beliefs Scale-GCBS.

In our sample, 29 parents (26.6%) scored more than 50 points to PAVC and, for this reason, were considered hesitant. Moreover, more than half of parents (60.6%) declared that they did not intend to vaccinate their children in the future. The path analysis model showed that parents with low education tended to have higher conspiracy beliefs (β = -0.40). Holding conspiracy beliefs (β = 0.28) and having low trust in science (β = -0.23) was associated with higher parent hesitancy and, in turn, no future intention to vaccinate their children for COVID-19 (OR = 0.83, p < 0.001).

The results of the current paper suggest that targeted campaigns should be aimed at parents with lower levels of education, mainly on social media, debunking the most common fake news or myths, independently from the type of vaccine, and highlighting the importance of scientific research for improving people's living conditions.