Addressing socioeconomic and racial/ethnic inequities in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among parents and adolescents

There is little information that is known about COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy or intentions among parents or teens in Canada. The success of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns for children and youth will be driven by the willingness of parents and adolescents to accept the vaccine. Gaining support for the vaccine for children and youth may be particularly difficult as severe COVID-19 in children and teens remains rare. This project aims to understand the determinants of vaccine hesitancy among parents and adolescents in Montreal and to develop strategies to address inequalities in vaccine acceptance. For this project, we will extend a current cohort study (Enfants et COVID-19: Étude de seroprevalence, EnCORE) which includes two of Montréal's most disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Our objectives are to monitor vaccine hesitancy and uptake in parents and teens through online questionnaires and also to engage with community members to better understand attitudes and perceptions of COVID-19 vaccination. For community engagement, we will create teams of parents and youth that will actively guide the research process with the goal of designing innovative solutions to address vaccine hesitancy in their communities. This research will address knowledge gaps about COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among parents and adolescents and will use participatory approaches to generate in-depth understanding of vaccine hesitancy and develop community-driven solutions to lessen COVID-19 vaccine inequalities.