In U.S., 55% Would Get COVID-19 Vaccine for Young Child

A steady 55% of parents in the U.S. with children under 12 say they would get their child vaccinated against the coronavirus if such a vaccine were available. The Sept. 13-19 update to Gallup's probability-based COVID-19 web panel survey ended one day before Pfizer and BioNTech announced they would seek emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for their COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11.

Parents' readiness to have their child vaccinated varies based on their degree of worry about contracting the disease, their own vaccination status and their party identification.

Parents who are "very worried" about their child getting COVID-19 are nearly unanimous in their willingness to have their child vaccinated. Those who are less worried about their child being infected are also less open to having their child receive the shot. Just 7% of parents who say they are "not worried at all" about their child contracting the virus say they would have them vaccinated.

Another very strong predictor of parents' openness to immunizing their child under 12 is their own vaccination status. That is, 82% of parents who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 say they would vaccinate their child, but just 1% of parents who do not plan to get vaccinated themselves say the same.