David Lazer Featured in News@Northeastern: Mothers Are More Relucatant to Get Their Children Vaccinated Than Fathers, U.S. Survey Shows
With the U.S. coronavirus vaccination rate among adults slowing and attention turning to the young, a new survey by researchers from Northeastern, Harvard, Northwestern, and Rutgers finds that mothers were significantly more reluctant to vaccinate their children than fathers, with the highest resistance coming from mothers under 36 years old.
Twenty-seven percent of mothers were opposed to vaccines compared to 11 percent of fathers. Resistance was highest (31 percent) among moms between the ages of 18-35 who say they are “extremely unlikely” to inoculate their kids compared to 25 percent of older moms who oppose vaccinations.
The findings come as U.S. health authorities are trying to get enough people vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, to achieve herd immunity. President Biden has set a new vaccination goal to deliver at least one dose to 70 percent of U.S. adults by July 4.
The findings “suggest that the ceiling for the vaccination rate of children will be a lot lower for certain demographics,” says David Lazer, university distinguished professor of political science and computer sciences at Northeastern and one of the researchers who conducted the study.