CS000000-A | 2/10/22

COVID-19 State of Vaccine 

Confidence Insights Report

Summary Report: COVID-19 Vaccines for Children | February 10, 2022

Date Range: November 9, 2021 – January 10, 2022

Consumers continued to have concerns about the effectiveness and safety of 

COVID-19 vaccines for children. 

This report is a consolidation of findings related to COVID-19 vaccines for children from CDC’s COVID-19 State of Vaccine 

Confidence Report (SoVC) #20, SoVC #21, and SoVC #22 reflecting data collected from November 9, 2021, through January 

10, 2022. During these data collection periods, the Insights Unit has seen a steadily increasing amount of data related to the 

effectiveness and safety of COVID-19 vaccines for children through all of our data sources, including social media, news stories, 

third-party reports, and Google search trends. The Insights Unit has classified “concerns about the effectiveness and safety of 

COVID-19 vaccines for children” as having a high risk of impacting vaccine confidence and is increasing in frequency across the 

reporting periods.

Overview

Since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the PfizerBioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in children ages 5 through 

11 years on October 29, 2021,1

 parents on social media and other social media 

users have been concerned about adverse events and unknown long-term 

side effects of the vaccine, citing incomplete and rushed trials as the cause of 

their apprehension.2,3,4

 A perceived higher risk of adverse events relative to 

benefits of vaccination or lack of concern about the severity of COVID-19 in this 

age group can impact vaccine confidence as justification for not having children 

vaccinated. Some of these concerns may have been made worse by reports that 

vaccine clinics across the country accidentally administered the higher adult 

dosage, rather than the pediatric dosage, to children ages 5-11 years.5,6,

Perceptions, Concerns, and Threat to Vaccine Confidence

 Social media users and questions to CDC-INFO expressed apprehension about the safety, effectiveness, and possible side 

effects of the COVID-19 vaccine in children, including but not limited to heart issues (myocarditis), death, and unknown longterm side effects.a,7,8,9

 Consumers expressed the belief that children do not need to be vaccinated due to having milder symptoms, stronger 

immunity, and fewer deaths.10,11,12

 Social media users continue to cite concern about serious side effects and unknown long-term outcomes, like fertility and 

heart problems.13,14,15,16

 Many consumers suggest authorization of vaccines for children should wait until long-term studies have been completed.17,18 

 Studies show a rural-urban vaccination gap, with pediatricians in rural areas less likely than pediatricians in urban areas to 

recommend COVID-19 vaccinations for children.19 

a

CDC-INFO
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COVID-19 State of Vaccine Confidence Summary Report | February 10, 2022

Content Gaps and Information Voids

 Why is the COVID-19 vaccine necessary for children ages 18 years and younger if they only experience mild symptoms? 

 Children infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can develop serious health complications. Babies ages 

1 year and younger and children with certain underlying medical conditions may be more likely to have serious illness 

from COVID-19. Some children have developed a rare but serious disease that is linked to COVID-19 called multisystem 

inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C).20 COVID-19 illness results in loss of in-person learning and impacts other opportunities for 

children to learn and socialize, and children can spread the illness to others, including those who are immunocompromised 

or who could otherwise have a severe illness.21

 Why is there a lack of data on the long-term side effects and adverse events of COVID-19 vaccines in children? 

 Serious side effects that could cause a long-term health problem are extremely unusual following any vaccination, including 

COVID-19 vaccination. In rare cases, people have experienced serious health events after COVID-19 vaccination. Serious 

adverse events after COVID-19 vaccination are rare but may occur.22 Rare cases of myocarditis have been reported after 

vaccination, but most cases are mild and most patients recover. Vaccine safety monitoring is ongoing for all vaccines, 

including COVID-19 vaccines.23

 When will vaccines be authorized or approved for children ages 4 years and younger? 

 Currently, children ages 4 years and younger are not eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine in the United States; however, clinical 

trials are underway. The best way currently to protect children ages 4 years and younger is to vaccinate everyone ages 5 

years and older who are around them and to follow other CDC guidance for preventing COVID-19 transmission, including 

masking.24,25 The FDA postponed the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) meeting 

originally scheduled for February 15, 2021, to give the agency time to consider additional data, allowing for a transparent 

public discussion as part of their usual scientific and regulatory processes for COVID-19 vaccines.26 FDA will provide an 

update on timing for the advisory committee meeting once additional data is received on a third dose in this age group 

from the company’s ongoing clinical trial and have an opportunity to complete an updated evaluation.

 What vaccine injection site reactions and serious side effects should parents and caregivers be aware of and when should they 

seek medical care for reactions after vaccination? 

 CDC has an online resource that details common side effects and provides information as to when a parent should seek 

medical care for adverse reactions after vaccination.27

 What should a healthcare professional do if the wrong dose of the COVID-19 vaccine was administered to a child? 

 Providers, patients, and parents should report vaccine administration errors to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting 

System. To know what to do regarding formulation and dosage errors, providers should refer to CDC’s COVID-19 Vaccine 

Administration Errors and Deviations document. 

Misinformation Themes

 Children do not need the COVID-19 vaccine because they are at low risk of death.28,29

 The risk of adverse events from COVID-19 vaccination are more severe than the potential impact of COVID-19 illness. 

 Deaths are more likely to occur from the COVID-19 vaccine than from infection with the virus that causes COVID-19.30,31,32

 Pediatric vaccination is an experiment on children who are not at risk for COVID-19.33,34

 COVID-19 vaccines are killing, permanently damaging, or disabling children.

 Pharmaceutical companies will not release the final safety data on COVID-19 vaccines for children for several decades. 

Ways to Take Action

 Encourage parents, caregivers, and pediatric healthcare providers to engage in conversations that address vaccine safety 

concerns by discussing potential side effects, vaccine benefits, and low rates of adverse events. 

 Develop and disseminate messages and talking points for pediatric healthcare providers to assist them in their conversations 

with parents and caregivers.

 Utilize and promote motivators to vaccinate children, such as protection of family members not yet eligible for vaccines and 

the ability to continue in-person school learning and activities, including games and sports.

 Develop plain language messages using findings from these three recent MMWR reports to educate people on the safety of 

the vaccine for children and the risk of severe COVID-19 illness in children: 

 Trends in COVID-19 Cases, Emergency Department Visits, and Hospital Admissions Among Children and Adolescents Aged 

0–17 Years — United States, August 2020–August 2021

 COVID-19 Vaccine Safety in Adolescents Aged 12–17 Years — United States, December 14, 2020–July 16, 2021

 COVID-19 Vaccine Safety in Children Aged 5–11 Years — United States, November 3–December 19, 2021
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COVID-19 State of Vaccine Confidence Summary Report | February 10, 2022

Appendix: Inputs and Sources

Type Input Cadence Sources Tactics for Utilization

Social Media 

Listening 

& Media 

Monitoring

Communication Surveillance 

Report

Daily on 

weekdays

Google news

 Meltwater

CrowdTangle

Native platform searches

 Share of voice topic analysis to identify themes

 Emerging topics 

Meltwater Daily  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

 Blogs

News media

Online forums

 Share of voice topic analysis

 Emerging theme topics

Identify high reach/velocity topics

OADC (Office of the 

Associate Director of 

Communication) Channel 

COVID-19 Post metrics

Weekly  Sprout Social

Native OADC account analytics

 Analyze # of posts, topics 

 Success of messages, # of impressions, reach, # 

engagements

OADC Channel Comment 

Analysis

Daily on 

weekdays

Native platform searches  Sentiment analysis

Identify message gaps/voids

Direct 

Reports

CDC-INFO Metrics Weekly CDC-INFO inquiry line list

 Prepared response (PR) usage report

 Cross-compare PR usage with inquiry theme 

analysis

 Sentiment analysis

Identify information gaps/voids

VTF Media Requests Weekly  Media request line list  Leading indicator for news coverage

Identify information gaps/voids

Web Metrics Weekly  Top pages

Google search queries

 Top FAQs

 Referring domains

Identify information gaps/voids,

Identify keywords/search terms, changes in web 

traffic

Research

Poll Review Weekly Harris Poll, PEW research, Gallup Poll, 

KFF 

New data related to vaccine 

hesitancy

Identify socio-behavior indicators related to 

motivation and intention to vaccinate 

Literature Review Weekly  PubMed, LitCovid, ProQuest Central, 

Altmetric 

New data related to vaccine 

hesitancy

Identify current vaccination intention

Identify barriers to vaccination

Third Party 

Reports

Tanaq Social Listening 

+Media Monitoring Report

Weekly  Meltwater

 Sprout Social

 First Draft

Native platform searches

 Trending topics

Demographic and geographic conversation 

monitoring

CrowdTangle content 

insights report

Biweekly  Facebook  Top pages (voices), groups

General trends/sentiment analysis

News analysis through posts

First Draft News Vaccine 

Misinformation Insights 

Report

Monthly  Proprietary methods  Media trends analysis

 Emerging threats and data deficits

Online vaccine narratives

Project VCTR Weekly  Proprietary methods National and regional trends in negative 

attitudes toward vaccination

Conversations around Legislation

Virality Project Weekly  Proprietary methods  Mis- and disinformation trends related to 

COVID-19 vaccine