More than eight in 10 Canadian parents did not have their children vaccinated against COVID in the past year, with vaccination rates falling as low as 12% in some provinces, according to new Public Health Agency of Canada data.The findings are contained in the agency's Childhood Seasonal Immunization Coverage Survey, based on questionnaires completed by 12,211 parents across Canada."Monitoring vaccine coverage on a regular basis helps improve vaccination programs and helps public health understand how well people are protected from various vaccine-preventable diseases," the agency said.Asked whether their child had received a COVID vaccine during the previous year, 82% of parents said no.Parents who declined the shots most commonly said they did not consider vaccination necessary. Another 25% cited concerns about potential side effects.Quebec recorded the lowest childhood COVID vaccination rate at 12%, followed by New Brunswick at 13% and Ontario at 17%.Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador each recorded rates of 18%, followed by Prince Edward Island at 20%, Nova Scotia at 21%, Manitoba at 26%, Saskatchewan at 27% and British Columbia at 29%.Most parents surveyed said a doctor or nurse had never recommended that their child receive a COVID vaccine.Despite the low uptake, 64% of respondents said they did not consider themselves hesitant about vaccines generally.The Public Health Agency defined vaccine hesitancy as being conflicted about or opposed to vaccination. Seventeen percent of parents described themselves as "very hesitant," while 19% said they were "somewhat hesitant.".The agency paid Edmonton-based polling firm Advanis Inc. $299,973 to conduct the research.The findings follow earlier federal research examining parents' attitudes toward childhood COVID vaccination during the pandemic.According to a 2021 Public Health Agency memo titled Vaccines For Children, approximately 120,000 of Canada's roughly five million children aged five to 11 contracted COVID during the pandemic. Of those, 291 were hospitalized and two died.A 2022 Privy Council report also found some parents objected to federal messaging surrounding COVID vaccines for children.The report, Continuous Qualitative Data Collection Of Canadians' Views, said parents frequently raised questions about possible side effects and unknown long-term consequences.Mothers and fathers participating in the research "objected to what they saw as an attempt to make them feel guilty and worried about the well-being of their children," researchers wrote.The Public Health Agency did not mandate COVID vaccination for children, though federal regulators authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children as young as five in 2021..Then-chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam acknowledged at the time that convincing some parents would be difficult."There are parts of the country that are still under-vaccinated," Tam told reporters."We do know parents who are unvaccinated. It's probably going to be quite difficult to convince them their kids need to be vaccinated."
