Peer-reviewed article
Parent and Caregiver Willingness for Childhood COVID-19 Vaccination in Urban Uganda: Applying the Behavioral and Social Drivers (BeSD) Framework.
Evanka Annyapu, Ronald Anguzu, Madeline Gwinn, Harriet Babikako, Jenna Loewus et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined what influences parents and caregivers in Kampala, Uganda to vaccinate their young children against COVID-19. Researchers surveyed 230 caregivers at an urban health clinic and found that 84% were willing to vaccinate their children. The main factors that increased willingness were confidence in vaccine benefits, positive attitudes from family members, and parents' own intention to get vaccinated themselves.
Key points
- 83.9% of caregivers reported willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19
- Caregivers with moderate to very high confidence in vaccine benefits were more than 3 times more likely to vaccinate their children
- Positive family norms increased willingness by 35%
- Parents' own intention to vaccinate themselves increased their willingness to vaccinate their children by 168%
- The study sample was predominantly young female caregivers (51% aged 15-24 years)
Limitations
The study only included caregivers from one urban health clinic in Kampala, so findings may not represent rural areas or caregivers who do not access healthcare facilities. The cross-sectional design cannot establish causation, only associations between factors and vaccination willingness.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Vaccinations are widely recognized for protecting children from infectious diseases. During the COVID-19 pandemic, immunization efforts became especially important. Despite these efforts, achieving high vaccine uptake has remained challenging in Uganda, underscoring the need to better understand the factors that influence caregivers' decisions regarding childhood COVID‑19 vaccination. The acceptability of routine childhood COVID-19 vaccine boosters among parents or caregivers in Uganda remains uncertain. This study examined factors associated with parent/caregiver willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 in an urban immunization clinic in Kampala, Uganda. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study among 230 caregivers with children under 59 months of age in an urban postnatal clinic in Kawempe Division, Kampala, Uganda, from June 2023 to July 2023. The outcome was willingness to receive annual routine COVID-19 vaccination for their child. Covariate selection was informed by the World Health Organization (WHO) Behavioral and Social Drivers (BeSD) framework: (i) thoughts and feelings (disease risk perception, confidence in vaccine safety, and benefits), (ii) social processes (family and friend norms), and (iii) practical issues (affordability). Modified Poisson regression identified factors independently associated with willingness to receive routine COVID-19 vaccination for their children. Adjusted prevalence rate ratios (adj. PRR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated. P-values of <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Among 230 respondents, 83.9% (n = 193) reported willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19, with female caregivers aged 15-24 years comprising 51% (n = 117) of our study sample. After controlling for confounders, willingness was higher among those with moderate confidence in vaccine benefits (PRR: 3.07; 95% CI: 1.37-6.85; p = 0.006) and very important confidence in vaccine benefits (PRR: 3.11; 95% CI: 1.41-6.89; p = 0.005), positive family norms (PRR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.04-1.75; p = 0.022), and intention to vaccinate themselves (PRR: 2.68; 95% CI: 1.18-6.07; p = 0.019). CONCLUSION: Targeting BeSD factors related to confidence in vaccine benefits, family norms, and parent/caregivers' vaccination intentions could help address barriers to routine childhood COVID-19 vaccination, potentially improving COVID-19 vaccination rates among urban, healthcare-seeking caregivers in similar study settings.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Understanding and targeting behavioral and social drivers (BeSD framework factors) including vaccine benefit confidence, family norms, and parental vaccination intentions through communications strategies
- Population
- Parents and caregivers with children under 59 months in urban Kampala, Uganda (n=230)
Key finding
83.9% of caregivers reported willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19
Annyapu et al. · PubMed (US National Library of Medicine) · 1 Jul 2026