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Most North Shore parents say they'll get their kids vaccinated: poll

But significant number of parents also express hesitancy
Jane Seyd
Jane Seyd
Kids vaxxed vaccination North Van
Madeleine Hatswell, 11, receives a COVID vaccine at the North Vancouver clinic Dec. 6 from retired nurse Mary Radmanovic.Mike Wakefield, North Shore News

Most North Shore parents with kids under 12 say they plan to get their children vaccinated against COVID. But there is still a significant number who are hesitant, according to a recent survey, mirroring trends seen province-wide.

The North Shore News polled 1,358 North Shore News readers and asked the question: Do you plan to have your children aged 5-11 vaccinated against COVID-19?

Over half of those who responded to the poll said they don't have kids in that age group, but will be encouraging friends and family who do to sign up for the shot. About a quarter of local people responding said they will definitely be getting their elementary school aged children vaccinated. A further three per cent said they will "probably" get their kids vaccinated but would wait and see what happens with the children's vaccine rollout.

Just under 16 per cent, however, said they don't plan to get their kids the shot, saying they don't feel enough is known about the long-term effects of the vaccine.

The poll ran from Dec. 8, 2021 to January 12, 2022. Of the 1,358 votes, we can determine that 513 are from within the community.

The issue of vaccine hesitancy among parents is a concern for health authorities as children go back to school this week in the midst of a recent surge of the COVID Omicron variant.

On the North Shore, 59 per cent of kids five to 11 in West Vancouver and 69 per cent of that age group in North Vancouver had received a first dose of the children's vaccine as of Jan. 11, according to B.C.'s Centre for Disease Control. The vaccine became available for children last month after approval by Health Canada. Those figures, however, still lag behind local vaccination rates for teens. Between 91 and 95 per cent of 12- to 17-year-olds are fully vaccinated on the North Shore.

On Tuesday, Health Minister Adrian Dix implored parents to sign their kids up for the vaccine at a weekly press conference with Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.'s health officer. There have been 152,000 elementary-school-aged children in B.C. who have received their first shots, and about 20,000 more whose families have booked their shots. But that still leaves 160,000 who have not been registered, said Dix.

The full results of the survey are as follows:

Yes. As soon as possible. I've been waiting for this for a long time. It's the key to keeping kids and other family members safe and getting life back to normal. 25.34 % local, 25.85 % total    
Yes, probably, but not right away. I'm going to wait and see what happens with the kids' vaccine rollout to make sure there are no adverse effects being reported. 2.92 % local, 3.09 % total    
I don't have kids in that age group, but I'll be encouraging other friends and family members who do to sign their children up for the shot. 55.75 % local, 48.31 % total    
No. I'm concerned that not enough is known about the long-term effects of the COVID vaccine. 15.98 % local, 22.75 % total    
  Local   Total

Results are based on an online study of adult North Shore News readers that are located on the North Shore. The margin of error - which measures sample variability - is +/- 2.65%, 19 times out of 20.

The North Shore News uses a variety of techniques to capture data, detect and prevent fraudulent votes, detect and prevent robots, and filter out non-local and duplicate votes.