Determinants of parents' intention to vaccinate their children aged 12-17 years against COVID-19 in North Kivu (Democratic Republic of Congo).

ABSTRACT

Parents are facing tremendous stress in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccination program for children. We aimed to investigate parents' willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 in North Kivu province, (Democratic Republic of Congo). A cross-sectional survey between 1 December 2021 to 20 January 2022 in six health zones (Goma, Karisimbi, Butembo, Beni, Kamango, and Katwa) was conducted in the province of North Kivu. In each health zone, we selected five clusters (Health area) using the method of probabilistic selection proportional to population size. In total, 522 parents participated in our study. Results: Overall, 32.8% of parents intended to vaccinate their children. In the multivariate analysis, a younger age of parents (aOR 2.40, CI [1.50-3.83]), a higher level of fear that "a member of my family" could contract COVID-19 (aOR 2.35, CI [1.38-4.02]), a higher level of perceived vulnerability to COVID-19 within the family (aOR 1.70, CI [1.005-2.2881]), a higher level of perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 within the family (aOR 3.07, CI [1.80-5.23]), and a history of vaccination against COVID-19 among parents (aOR 16.47, CI [8.39-32.33]), were all significantly associated with the intention of parents to have their children or adolescents vaccinated. According to the different explanatory factors of the will to have their children vaccinated, an emphasis on the health education of parents who are prone to refusal or hesitation of the vaccine, by addressing the common reasons for the refusal of the vaccine and highlight the vaccine's benefits.