A new survey has found that when it comes to parental hesitation towards the COVID-19 vaccine, mothers are more reluctant than fathers on getting their children vaccinated. For the last 16 months, the world has been working on putting an end to this pandemic. The pandemic changed the lives of almost every single person on this planet, and children had their whole life turned upside down. They had to stop seeing friends and family members, their school went virtual and their extracurricular activities were canceled. This left an impact on their mental health, which is still being studied.

However, with vaccines available for youth over the age of 12, and the promise of a vaccine for younger children soon, it would seem likely that parents are just waiting until their children can be protected. However, there are still a lot of parents out there who remain “vaccine-hesitant,” and are unsure if they are going to be giving their child the vaccine.

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According to Medical Xpress, a survey was completed that showed that mothers tend to be more reluctant than fathers when it comes to vaccinating their children. The survey was done by researchers from Northeastern, Harvard, Northwestern and Rutgers and it can be read in full here.

There may be multiple reasons why this is, and one of the theories is that moms are often judged by society and are more often told how to be a “good mother” than fathers are, and this creates pressure for moms to play it safe and make the right decision, which can cause them to question any medical intervention. Matthew Simonson, the lead author of the study, stated that moms also tend to have more influence over a child’s health than fathers and when you add that with the societal expectations, you can have a more hesitant parent.

However, this is a trend that may change as time goes on. If this same theory plays out the way researchers say it will, they suspect that moms may become more open to vaccinating their children due to the growing concern of the Delta variant, which has been affecting children at a much higher rate. Within the survey, the age range for mothers who were most against the vaccine were those who were between the ages of 18 and 35 years old. Researchers also suspect that this number may change when the government agencies give authorization for vaccines for their children’s ages.

Sources: Medical Xpress, Northeastern