The vast majority of Hong Kong parents are not willing to have their young children vaccinated against COVID-19, a survey released on Tuesday showed.
Just one in 10 respondents said they were prepared to inoculate their five to 12-year-olds in an online survey of 11,141 parents conducted by the Education University of Hong Kong.
Should schools require children to be vaccinated to resume face-to-face learning, 13.5 percent of parents said they would be willing to comply.
Photo: AP
Almost 49 percent of respondents did not agree that vaccination would reduce the severity of a child’s COVID-19 infection, while 84.5 percent were concerned about side effects from the shots.
The survey was conducted from Jan. 20 to 27.
“Relevant authorities should strengthen the provision of information to parents about the efficacy and safety of children’s vaccination,” said Li Jianbin (黎建斌), an assistant professor at the university’s department of early childhood education.
On Jan. 24, the Hong Kong government announced that to resume face-to-face classes, at least 70 percent of a school’s staff must be double vaccinated and 70 percent of students must have received either a single dose of a Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or two doses of a Sinovac vaccine.
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