{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T01:06:57Z","timestamp":1760231217824,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,31]],"date-time":"2022-08-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1661904000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Vaccines"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Introduction: COVID-19 is considered the greatest health disaster affecting humans during the 21st century, which urged the need to develop an effective vaccine to acquire enough immunity against the virus. The main challenge faced during the development of such vaccines was the insufficiency of time, which raised the question about the vaccine safety and efficacy, especially among children. Parents\u2019 and caregivers\u2019 thoughts and acceptance of administering the vaccine to their children are still debatable topics and are yet to be explored in the UAE. Aims: The study aims to exploit parent acceptance, perception, and hesitancy toward the COVID-19 vaccine administration for their children and the link with their choice of distance learning instead of face-to-face education in the UAE. Methodology: This study utilized a cross-sectional descriptive design. A sample of 1049 parents across all emirates were conveniently approached and surveyed using Google forms from June to September 2021. The participants responded to a semi-structured questionnaire pertaining to socio-demographic, educational, and other questions related to COVID-19 and its link with their beliefs in whether the vaccination of their children will help with resuming face-to-face learning. Results: Approximately 74% of the parents confirmed that their children who are 16 years old and above have received the vaccine, and 71% were willing to give the vaccine to their children aged above 5 years. Parents with children receiving online education and those with children where the online modality of learning negatively affected their academic achievement are more prone to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to their children above five years old. The results show a significant association between vaccination of children and the parental desire for resuming physical attendance in schools (p value &lt; 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that the highest acceptance rate was from parents with children of low academic achievement due to online learning modality during the pandemic. Conclusion: In the UAE, parents of young children have shown a positive attitude towards COVID-19 vaccination in belief that vaccines will reduce the risk of infection and assist in resuming normal lifestyles, such as going back physically to schools. The results reflect the public awareness and the hypervigilance regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in the UAE.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/vaccines10091434","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,31]],"date-time":"2022-08-31T02:09:36Z","timestamp":1661911776000},"page":"1434","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Parents\u2019 Perception, Acceptance, and Hesitancy to Vaccinate Their Children against COVID-19: Results from a National Study in the UAE"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Zelal","family":"Kharaba","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Program of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Al Ain University, Abu Dhabi Campus, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 112612, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"AAU Health and Biomedical Center, Al Ain University, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 112612, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Rahaf","family":"Ahmed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Program of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Al Ain University, Abu Dhabi Campus, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 112612, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8756-0486","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alaa M.","family":"Khalil","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Program of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Al Ain University, Abu Dhabi Campus, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 112612, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Raneem M.","family":"Al-Ahmed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Program of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Al Ain University, Abu Dhabi Campus, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 112612, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Amira S. A.","family":"Said","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Pharmacy Department, College of Pharmacy, Al Ain University, Al Ain P.O. Box 64141, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"Clinical Pharmacy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Beni Suef University, Beni Suef P.O. Box 64141, Egypt"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4143-7810","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Asim Ahmed","family":"Elnour","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Program of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Al Ain University, Abu Dhabi Campus, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 112612, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"AAU Health and Biomedical Center, Al Ain University, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 112612, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sarah","family":"Cherri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Pharmacy, Lebanese International University, Mouseitbah, Beirut P.O. Box 146404, Lebanon"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Feras","family":"Jirjees","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Pharmacy, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hala","family":"Afifi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy, City University College of Ajman, Ajman P.O. Box 18484, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ain-Shams University, Cairo P.O. Box 11566, Egypt"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5396-5901","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Naglaa S.","family":"Ashmawy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ain Shams University, Cairo P.O. Box 11566, Egypt"},{"name":"Rochester Institute of Technology-Dubai, Dubai P.O. Box 341055, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Bassam","family":"Mahboub","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Respiratory Medicine, Rashid Hospital, Dubai Health Authority, Dubai P.O. Box 4545, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"Sharjah Institute for Medical Research, College of Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yassen","family":"Alfoteih","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dental Surgery, City University College of Ajman, Ajman P.O. Box 18484, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"Department of General Education, City University College of Ajman, Ajman P.O. Box 18484, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"WHO Weekly Epidemiological Update on COVID-19, 10 August 2022, World Health Organization. Available online: https:\/\/www.who.int\/publications\/m\/item\/weekly-epidemiological-update-on-covid-19---10-august-2022."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e598","DOI":"10.1016\/S2214-109X(21)00026-7","article-title":"Serological evidence of human infection with SARS-CoV-2: A systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"9","author":"Chen","year":"2021","journal-title":"Lancet Glob. Health"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"El-Elimat, T., AbuAlSamen, M.M., Almomani, B.A., Al-Sawalha, N.A., and Alali, F.Q. (2021). Acceptance and attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines: A cross-sectional study from Jordan. 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