THURSDAY, April 1, 2021 (HealthDay News) – More than a quarter of U.S. parents do not plan to vaccinate their children against COVID-19, and roughly the same number decline school-age coronavirus recordings, according to a new study.
This opposition was more common among mothers than fathers, and especially common among white mothers who identified themselves as Republican / Republican oriented, the researchers said.
“Women tend to act as family health managers within the family, so they are generally more likely than men to follow expert medical advice to avoid health risks,” said study co-author Jessica Calarco. She is a professor of sociology at Indiana University Bloomington.
“Given the onslaught of misinformation surrounding the coronavirus, the pressures women face to control risks may lead them to disproportionately oppose some new public health efforts,” Calarco said in a university press release.
The study looked at a survey of nearly 2,000 American parents and interviews from Calarco’s Pandemic Parenting Study. Among them were 64 mothers with different political, economic and racial backgrounds.
Preliminary results were published on the SocArXiv preprint server and not reviewed by experts.
Overall, 34% of mothers said they have no plans to vaccinate their children against COVID-19. That number was higher for white mothers who identified as Republican or Republican oriented (47%).
However, only 17% of fathers said they did not plan to vaccinate their children, as the results showed.
The survey also found that a total of 33% of mothers are against school-age coronavirus vaccinations, including 54% of white Republican and Republican-oriented mothers. That compared to one in five fathers.
Calarco said she was surprised by the gender differences, as women typically follow the advice of medical experts.
“In the US, we expect people to take responsibility for their health by avoiding health risks. Mothers in particular are under great pressure to control risks to their families’ health,” she said.
“With widespread misinformation, many mothers feel able to control the risks of COVID-19 (including through the use of masks) but not the risks of the vaccines, so they plan to limit their children’s exposure to the virus rather than depend on the vaccine, “added Calarco.
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