Parents' Hesitancy to Vaccinate Their Children Against COVID-19, a Country-Wide Survey.

Objective: Parents' hesitancy (PH) toward childhood vaccination, including the vaccine of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is one of the top public health threats. We aim to assess the PH toward children COVID-19 vaccination as compared to PH toward children routine vaccination among the residents of Saudi Arabia. Method: Before the official approval of children's COVID-19 vaccination in the country, a cross-sectional study using an electronically distributed survey was performed. Responses from parents of children younger than 18 years of age were accepted. The Oxford COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy scale (OC19-VHS) and the routine vaccination hesitancy scale (R-VHS) were used. Parents were classified as hesitant, non-hesitant, and unsure. Results: Between June 18th-30th, 2021, we included 1,052 parents. More than half of the parents were positive toward the childhood COVID-19 vaccination (63%) while 10% were unsure. Higher parental hesitancy toward children COVID-19 vaccination among mothers, parents younger than 40 years, did not receive COVID-19 nor influenza vaccines, had higher educational levels, and parents who recovered from COVID-19 infection. Hesitancy was mainly driven by the novelty of the vaccines and the fear of serious adverse effects. Compared to the routine vaccination, parents were more hesitant toward COVID-19 vaccination (6 vs. 27%). Conclusion: Generally, parents in Saudi Arabia were positive toward children's COVID-19 vaccination. Focused education to reassure hesitant parents on the safety of the vaccine is essential to achieve larger vaccination coverage.

Acute unsolicited adverse events following BNT162b2 vaccine in Saudi Arabia, a real-world data.

BACKGROUND: Acute adverse events and anaphylaxis were reported after the administration of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) mRNA vaccines. We aim to explore the nature and outcome of adverse events following BNT162B2 vaccine in a community vaccination center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. METHOD: Within 30 min post vaccination, all acute adverse events (AAEs) that occurred before March 31st, 2021, and in people older than 16 years were reviewed (AAE group). We used the case definition of Brighton collaboration on vaccine safety to define anaphylaxis. Patients' demographics, comorbidities, allergy history, and outcome at disposition were collected. Observation duration after vaccination was short (<15 min) or extended (<3 h). Statistical analysis was performed to study AAEs association with the study variables and outcomes. RESULTS: Out of 71,221 vaccine recipients, 144 (0.002%) had developed 345 AAEs, at a rate of 48.4 events per 10,000 dose administered. The majority of cases in AAE group were first dose recipients (93.8%) and previously healthy (59%), while the minority had a previous history of allergy (6.3%) or a laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 (4.2%). We found a significant association between female gender and the occurrence of any AAE (p-value = 0.002). Per every 10,000 doses administered, non-anaphylactic AAEs were dizziness (17.8), headache (9.7), nausea (7.1), or syncope (3.2). Only one in every ten AAEs was considered serious and resulted in an extended observation (4.8 per 10,000 doses), but only 1/144 required hospitalization for non-anaphylaxis reasons (0.1 per 10,000 doses). According to the Brighton collaboration definition of anaphylaxis, no single case of high certainty anaphylaxis was recorded. No death was documented in this cohort. CONCLUSION: Acute adverse events due toBNT162b2 vaccinewere rare andmostlynon-seriouswith a tendency to occur more in women. Further prospectivestudieson largervaccine recipientsto evaluatethe incidenceof anaphylaxis in the Saudi population are warranted.