6 of 10 parents willing to have children vaccinated: survey

A healthcare worker prepares a COVID-19 vaccine shot at a vaccination center in Seoul. (Yonhap)

More than 6 out of 10 South Korean parents are willing to have their children vaccinated, a local survey has found.

A research team at Busan National University Hospital published the findings Thursday after it had surveyed 343 individuals across the country between May 25 and June 3. A total of 226 of those polled were parents with children under 18, while the rest were children and adolescents between the ages of 10-18.

The survey was conducted when the inoculation age limit was 16, the research team added. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety recently lowered the inoculation age limit for Pfizer shots to 12.

According to the survey, some 64.2 percent of the parents said they would like to have their children vaccinated against COVID-19.

The survey also showed that parents were more willing to be vaccinated themselves than their children were. Some 77 percent of parents in the survey said they would like to be inoculated, while only 49.6 percent of 117 children and adolescents said they would like to receive the jabs.

Parents expressed more concerns over children being infected by COVID-19 than children and adolescents did. Around 69.5 percent of parent participants said they were worried about their children getting infected by COVID-19, while some 52 percent of children participants expressed concerns about infection.

More than 90 percent of all survey respondents agreed that COVID-19 is a serious malady and expressed concerns over the virus spreading widely.

However, just 51 percent of respondents said that they felt COVID-19 vaccines are effective against the virus, while only 28 percent of the survey respondents said they felt safe being vaccinated, according to the survey.

Of 343 survey participants, 167 were previously tested for COVID-19, the research team also noted.

The survey was published in a recent edition of the Journal of Korean Medical Science.



By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)