Low COVID‐19 Vaccine Coverage and Guardian Acceptance Among Pediatric Transplant Recipients

OBJECTIVES: To investigate COVID-19 vaccine coverage in immunosuppressed children, assess guardians' intention to vaccinate children, and determine reasons and associated factors. In addition, we attempted to capture the characteristics of them with Omicron. METHODS: We obtained the vaccination coverage and guardian vaccine acceptance among pediatric transplant recipients through a web-based questionnaire conducted from April 12 to April 28, 2022, and performed the statistical analysis. Seven organ transplant recipient children with Omicron were also clinically analyzed. RESULTS: The three-dose vaccine coverage for LT (n = 563) and HSCT (n = 122) recipient children was 0.9% and 4.9%, and guardian vaccine acceptance was 63.8%. Independent risk factors for vaccine acceptance were the child's age, geographic location, type of transplant, guardian's vaccination status, guardian's level of distress about epidemic events, guardian's risk perception ability, anxiety, and knowledge of epidemic control. The main reasons for vaccine hesitancy were fear of vaccine-induced adverse events and doubts about efficacy. Ultimately, most children infected with Omicron have mild or no symptoms and are infected by intra-family. CONCLUSIONS: Since vaccine coverage and guardian acceptance are lowest among liver transplant children, and the infected are mainly intra-family, we should devise more targeted education and vaccination instructions for their guardians. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.