Askelson Coauthors Study on Adolescent Vaccination

Natoshia Askelson, senior research fellow in the Health Policy Research Program, co-authored a study exploring differences between vaccine-acceptant and vaccine-hesitant unvaccinated US adolescents using national survey data. What set the study apart from similar studies was the researchers’ decision to explore adolescent intent to vaccinate rather than parental intent to vaccinate their children.

A 2021 online survey of 985 respondents from ages 13-17 was used for the purposes of the study to measure COVID vaccination intent (“vaccine-acceptant” vs “vaccine-hesitant”). The results showed that around 70 percent of the surveyed adolescents were hesitant to receive a COVID vaccine. Factors contributing to hesitancy included vaccine side effects, having a parent who had not yet made a vaccination decision, and low level of concern about COVID-19.  More information can be found here.