Black, Hispanic Parents Say Access, Cost Keep Kids From COVID Vax: Poll

Black and Hispanic parents are more likely than their white counterparts to say that taking time off from work and out-of-pocket costs prevent them from getting their young children vaccinated against COVID, a new survey has found.

The latest poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation's COVID Vaccine Monitor found broad hesitancy among parents of children ages 6 months through 4 years old to get their children vaccinated against COVID. The results of the survey, released Tuesday, also point to lingering racial disparities in access to the vaccine.

Conducted between July 7-17, the survey found that 43 percent of parents would "definitely not" give their child younger than 5 years old the vaccination, despite the age group becoming eligible for the jab in June in accordance with updated recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Parents cited the newness of the vaccine, as well as side effects and safety concerns, as reasons why they wouldn't give their young children the vaccine.

"Though worries about side effects and unknown long-term effects are widespread among parents of young children, some parents also express concerns that reflect access barriers to getting their young child vaccinated," the Kaiser Family Foundation said in a summary.

The survey found that 44 percent of Black parents of children in the age group said they were worried about the possibility of having to take time off from work to get their child vaccinated or to care for them if they had side effects.

Similarly, 28 percent of Hispanic parents also cited concerns about time off. For white parents, that number was 18 percent.

Over a quarter of Black and 36 percent of Hispanic parents expressed concerns about having to pay to have their child vaccinated. Only 13 percent of white parents shared the same concern.

Additionally, just under half of Hispanic and 28 percent of Black parents said they were concerned they would be unable to get their children vaccinated at a place they trust. Just 15 percent of white parents gave the same reason.

Claire Laurier Decoteau, a professor of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago who published a report on racial disparities in COVID outcomes, told Newsweek in an email that making vaccines more accessible doesn't "resolve the broader insecurities brought about by the pandemic."

Unlike white middle-class people, Decoteau said racial minorities and people with lower incomes are hesitant to vaccinate their kids against COVID because the lack of steady child care means missing work and a loss of income.

"In addition, many people marginalized by race and class felt that while vaccines are offered as the only defense against COVID-19, they do not protect against the myriad negative outcomes of the pandemic," Decoteau said. "For lower-income families, the pandemic was experienced as a much broader disruption to work, childcare, housing and healthcare access."

Since becoming widely available last year, COVID vaccines have not been evenly distributed along racial lines, despite some states attempting to make up for past inequities. One Rite Aid in Philadelphia gave most of its shots to white people.

More recent data found that racial gaps for COVID vaccinations have been largely addressed.

Kaiser Family Foundation found that as of July 20, about 544,000 children under the age of 5 had received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine. That's about 2.8 percent of the approximately 19 million children in this age group.

Newsweek reached out to the CDC for comment.

Update 07/26/22, 9:00 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information and background.