With the expected expansion of vaccine authorization to younger age groups in the coming weeks, the latest KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor indicates that vaccine uptake has slowed among 12-17-year olds, with half of parents saying their teen has gotten vaccinated or will do so right away. About three in ten parents of 5-11-year olds (27%) are eager to get a vaccine for their younger child as soon as one is authorized, while a third say they will wait a while to see how the vaccine is working. Three in ten parents say they will definitely not get the vaccine for their 12-17-year old (31%) or their 5-11 year old (30%).
Parents’ main concerns when it comes to vaccinating their younger children ages 5-11 have to do with potential unknown long-term effects and serious side effects of the vaccine, including two-thirds who are concerned the vaccine may affect their child’s future fertility. With talk of possible school vaccine mandates, over half (53%) of parents are worried their child may be required to get vaccinated for COVID-19 even if they don’t want them to. Some parents also express concerns related to access or information-related barriers to vaccination, including larger shares of lower-income parents who are concerned about missing work to deal with children’s vaccinations (51%), having to pay out-of-pocket to get their child vaccinated (45%), not being able to get the vaccine from a trusted place (48%), or having difficulty traveling to a vaccination location (38%).
The pace of vaccine uptake also appears to be slowing among adults, with 72% saying they have gotten at least one dose, the same share who said so last month. Partisanship continues to be a sharp dividing line in vaccine attitudes, including among fully vaccinated adults, with nearly four in ten fully vaccinated Republicans saying they are unlikely to get a booster dose when it’s recommended for them.
With a rise in vaccine mandates, one in four workers (25%) now say their employer has required them to get the COVID-19 vaccine, up 16 percentage points since June. Half of workers continue to say they do not want their employer to put in place a vaccine requirement. More than a third (37%) of unvaccinated workers (5% of adults overall) say they would leave their job if their employer required them to get a vaccine or get tested weekly, a share that rises to seven in ten unvaccinated workers (9% of all adults) if weekly testing is not an option.
Six in ten workers (8% of all adults) also say they would ask for an exemption if presented with such a mandate. Still, while about a quarter of all adults say they know someone who has left a job because of a vaccine requirement, just 5% of unvaccinated workers (1% of all adults) say they have personally done so.
With the Delta surge abating in most of the country, the Monitor finds that about half the public has returned to their normal pre-pandemic activities and many expect to engage in regular holiday traditions, including a majority of parents who say their kids will be trick-or-treating this Halloween. Some groups remain more cautious, including Democrats, vaccinated adults, and Hispanic parents, one-third of whom say their children will not be trick-or-treating this year specifically because of concerns about COVID-19.
Pfizer’s announcement in September that their COVID-19 vaccine was shown to be safe and effective for children ages five to eleven in clinical trials seems to have had little impact on parents’ intentions to vaccinate their children in that age group. The KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor finds that about three in ten parents (27%) say they will vaccinate their 5-11 year old child “right away” once a vaccine is authorized for their age group – statistically similar to shares who said the same in September and in July. A third of parents say they will “wait and see” how the vaccine is working before having their 5-11- year old vaccinated while three in ten say they definitely won’t get their 5-11 year old vaccinated (30%) and 5% say they will only do so if their school requires it.
Parents of 5-11-year olds cite a range of concerns when it comes to vaccinating their children for COVID-19, with safety issues topping of the list. More than seven in ten parents of 5-11-year olds say they are “very” or “somewhat” concerned that not enough is known about the long-term effects of the COVID-19 vaccine in children (76%) or their child might experience serious side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine (71%).
Additionally, two-thirds say they are concerned the vaccine may negatively impact their child’s fertility in the future, despite the CDC stating there is no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccines cause fertility problems. With talk of possible school vaccine mandates, more than half (53%) of parents are worried their child may be required to get vaccinated for COVID-19 even if they don’t want them to.
Smaller shares of parents express concerns related to access or information-related barriers to vaccination, including about one-third (35%) who are concerned they might need to take time off work to get their child vaccinated or care for them if they experience side effects, one-quarter who are concerned they won’t be able to get their child vaccinated at a trusted place or they might have to pay an out-of-pocket cost, and one in five (19%) who are concerned they may have difficulty traveling to a vaccination location.
Notably, parents with household incomes under $50,000 are more likely than those with higher incomes to say they are very or somewhat concerned about issues related to vaccine access, with about half saying they are concerned about taking time off work to take their 5-11-year old to get the vaccine and recover from symptoms (51%), not being able to get the vaccine from a place they trust (48%), or having to pay an out-of-pocket cost to get their child vaccinated (45%). Nearly four in ten lower-income parents say they are concerned about the difficulty of traveling to a place to get their child vaccinated (38%). Few higher-income parents express these same concerns.
The latest KFF COVID-19 vaccine monitor suggests a slowdown in vaccination uptake among 12 to 17 year-olds with about half of parents of teens (46%) saying their child has received at least one dose of a vaccine, similar to the share who said the same in September (48%). Just 4% of parents say they want to get their 12-to-17-year old vaccinated right away while about one in ten parents (11%) say they want to “wait and see” before getting their teen vaccinated. Notably, three in ten parents (31%) say they definitely will not get their 12-to-17-year old vaccinated.
