The White House rolled out new plans Wednesday to vaccinate 28 million kids under 12 once the Pfizer shot is available.
The vaccine would be a lower dose than the one given to adults.
A new Kaiser Family Foundation survey shows about one-third of parents nationwide are ready to get their young children vaccinated, but others are still hesitant.
This new survey also shows that one-third of parents want to wait and see what happens first, before getting kids 5 to 11 years old vaccinated.
A quarter of parents said they’re not in favor the vaccine for this age group.
Researchers say the reasons for the hesitancy varied.
Some parents, especially those in the Hispanic community, said their issue is access to the vaccine and not being able to get time off from work to care for a child after getting the shot.
Researchers say one of the biggest concerns for parents is the limited amount of information about the long-term effects of the vaccine on kids.
“They’re also concerned about potentially serious side effects. These are some of the same concerns that adults had about getting the vaccines themselves; but when it comes to kids and younger kids in particular, I think those concerns are heightened for parents, just given how little their kids are,” said Liz Hamel, the director of public opinion and survey research at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The survey shows about 7% of parents would only get their kids vaccinated if the shot was required.