Survey: About half of parents holding off on covid vaccines for their children

As schools prepare to open for a third straight pandemic-strained year, about half of parents are holding off on coronavirus vaccinations for their children, taking a wait-and-see attitude or, for many, outright opposing the shots, a new survey finds. The Kaiser Family Foundation poll finds significant barriers to increasing vaccination among children ages 12 to 17, who have the lowest rates of any age group at 41 percent. Large shares of parents of unvaccinated children say they fear the long-term effects of the vaccine as well as serious side effects. Many parents who are vaccinated are still holding off on inoculating their children, the survey found.