COVID-19 Vaccines for Children: How Parents are Influenced

COVID-19 Vaccines for Children: How Parents are Influenced by Misinformation, and How They Can Counter It

BY JAIME SIDAN, BETH HOFFMAN & MAYA RAGAVAN THE CONVERSATION

Since COVID-19 vaccines became available for children ages 5 to 11 in early November 2021, many families have been lining up to get their school-age kids vaccinated prior to holiday travel and gatherings. As of Dec. 14, 5.6 million U.S. children ages 5 to 11 – or about 19% of this age group – have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. And 2.9 million, or about 10% of this age group, are fully vaccinated. However, the pace has begun to slow. Vaccination rates in this age group vary widely across the country, and the U.S. is still far from reaching a threshold that would help keep COVID-19 infections in check. We are a team of medical and public health professionals at the University of Pittsburgh. We have extensive experience researching vaccine misinformation on social media and working with community partners to address vaccine hesitancy, counter misinformation and promote vaccine equity. Through this work, we have seen and studied the ways that anti-vaccine activists on social media target vulnerable parents who are trying to navigate the challenges of digesting health information to make appropriate choices for their children.

Health care providers are just one trusted source of information for parents on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines for children

Social media and vaccine misinformation Anti-vaccine activists are a small but vocal group. According to research conducted by the non-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate, just 12 social media accounts – the “disinformation dozen” – are behind the majority of antivaccine posts on Facebook. Studies also show that only about 2% of parents reject all vaccines for their children. A larger group, or about 20% of parents, can more accurately be described as vaccine hesitant, which means they are undecided about having their children receive vaccines as recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention. With regard to COVID-19 vaccines specifically, as of October 2021, about one-third of parents with children ages 5 to 11 years said they would get their child vaccinated right away. Another one-third said they would wait to see how the vaccine is working, and the last one-third said they would definitely not get their child vaccinated. It can be difficult for parents to sort through the large amount of information available about COVID-19 vaccines –both true and untrue. In their search for answers, some parents turn to social media platforms. The problem is, these parents are often targeted by anti-vaccine activists who are better organized and more skilled at tailoring their messages to the varied concerns of people who are vaccine hesitant in comparison to provaccine activists. Social media, in particular, has been a primary vehicle for the spread of misinformation. Although sometimes misinformation is blatantly false, other times it continued on page 7

COVID-19 Vaccines for Children/continued from page 6

is more like a game of telephone. A kernel of truth gets modified slightly as it is retold, which ends up becoming something untrue. Unfortunately, exposure to COVID-19 misinformation has been shown to reduce people’s intent to get vaccinated.

Addressing parents’ vaccine concerns So how can pediatricians and other health care professionals empower parents to feel confident in the choice to get their children vaccinated for COVID-19? The answer may lie in working with communities to promote the vaccine as trustworthy instead of simply asking communities to trust it. We are part of the Pittsburgh Community Vaccine Collaborative, which is a communityacademic partnership that seeks to ensure equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccines. Through that effort, we have focused on building trustworthiness of the vaccines and of the providers and health systems that are offering the vaccines in their communities. Health care providers are a trusted source of information for COVID-19 vaccine information, but they are not the only sources. Research has found that it is important to lean on the expertise and voices of community partners, community health workers and religious leaders. Our research suggests that pediatricians and public health professionals can effectively use social media to promote vaccination and provide families with reputable scientific information to address their questions and concerns. Results of a survey that was recently published in Academic Pediatrics found that 96% of parents used social media. Of those, 68% reported using it for health information. For example, a pediatric group we partner with uses comedy combined with information to combat myths and answer questions about the COVID-19 vaccines. Social media is also an effective way to reach adolescents who can decide for themselves if they want to get a COVID19 vaccine without their parents’ consent (in some cities and states). Adolescents may also be able to influence their parents. Research shows that parents who report high COVID-19 vaccine intention for themselves also report high COVID-19 vaccine intention for their children. Therefore, talking about vaccines as a family may be helpful in combating misinformation around the COVID-19 vaccine. In addition, parents who have had their children vaccinated can use social media to share their experiences and make it feel more normal and accepted among their peers. We have also learned that promoting media literacy, which encourages people to question the media information they come into contact with, can empower parents to sift through the “infodemic” of COVID-19 vaccine information. While social media platforms have announced policies of removing vaccine misinformation, research suggests this is not always effective at reducing the influence of such misinformation. Learning how to find the source of a piece of information and thinking about who are the intended targets may help people determine whether the information is true or distorted.

Next steps Addressing COVID-19 vaccine misinformation can feel overwhelming. The American Academy of Pediatrics has helpful information for parents to support making decisions around the COVID-19 vaccine. Parents can also have conversations with their children about media literacy and evaluating information. And they can talk to their children – especially adolescent-age children – about how getting the COVID-19 vaccine can protect them and others. Increasing COVID-19 vaccine rates for children and young people is important to promote their health and wellness, as well as to move closer to ending the pandemic.l

When parents turn to social media to find information about COVID-19 vaccinations for children, they can become easy targets for misinformation spread by anti-vaccine activists.

Pediatricians recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for 5-17 year olds.

Jaime Sidani is an Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences. Beth Hoffman is a PhD Candidate in Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences. Maya Ragavan is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences

Is the COVID-19 vaccine really safe for my child? The FDA and CDC have found the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to be safe and authorized its use among children 5-17 years old. COVID-19 VACCINES SAVE LIVES. GET YOUR CHILD VACCINATED. To learn more about COVID-19 vaccines, visit nyc.gov/covidvaccine or call 212-COVID19.

NYC Announces 2022-23 Admissions Policies for Middle and High Schools

BY CHRISTINA VEIGA, CHALKBEAT

New York City officials unveiled long-awaited details on how middle and high schools will accept students for the coming year: Middle schools will continue a pause on academic screens, and high schools will dramatically streamline their competitive admissions criteria, education department officials announced Tuesday. In a reversal, high schools will also continue to give admissions priorities based on whether students live within a certain borough or zone. Those priorities were set to be eliminated this year, but Mayor Bill de Blasio changed course following pushback from some corners of the city, including Queens, where families were concerned about long commutes. District-level priorities, such as the one previously given to a handful of coveted schools in Manhattan’s District 2, are still gone. (Those were removed last year.) Applications for middle schools will open the week of Jan. 10 and will be due the week of Feb. 28. Offers will be sent in early May. For high schools, applications will open the week of Jan. 24. The deadline is the week of Feb. 28, with offers sent in late May. The changes follow another year of pandemic-related disruptions to the competitive and stressful admissions process — one that critics say helps drive New York City’s status as among the most segregated school districts in the country. An unusually large portion of the city’s schools use screens such as test scores, grades, and attendance for admission. Students who are Black or Latino, or those who come from low-income families, have disabilities, or are learning English as a new language are less likely to meet admissions requirements. While the new policies could help encourage integration, advocates say the impact is likely dulled by the fact that there are no new initiatives aimed explicitly at bolstering diversity. “These are big changes, but also the bare minimum,” said Nyah Berg, executive director of New York Appleseed, which advocates for school integration. “A lot of those gatekeeping tools remain or they’re lurking in the background.”

A Year Filled With Uncertainty This year’s admissions process has been murky as decisions about how schools would be allowed to admit students dragged into de Blasio’s final weeks in office. Mayor-elect Eric Adams will be sworn in on Jan. 1, raising questions about whether the new administration will move to put its own mark on the controversial admissions process. Current education department officials said they consulted Adams’ team about the latest reforms. A spokesperson for his campaign did not return a request for comment. The incoming chancellor, David Banks, has declared himself “not a big believer in screens.” He hinted that more changes could be coming under the new administration. “Screening in certain situations is maybe a good thing — we got some schools where you’ve got to audition and demonstrate a level of talent,” he recently told Chalkbeat. “But I think screens have been used, in many ways, to be discriminatory and keep other kids out of the school. And that I do not support and so we’ll be looking at all those things and figuring out the best path forward.”

‘Promising’ Middle School Changes Before the pandemic, 196 middle schools screened applicants based on measures such as state test scores, grades and attendance. Last year, middle schools put a pause on screening applicants, since many of those measures were dramatically altered or unavailable during the pandemic. That pause will continue for another year following “positive feedback from school communities and families, as well as promising outcomes,” according to the education department. After removing screens, the share of students from low-income families who were matched to “in-demand” schools ticked up to 48% — an increase of 7 percentage points, according to the education department. Officials, however, did not say which schools were included in that tally, only saying they considered those where incoming students had high test scores. “This administration has brought real and lasting equitable change to the admissions process that has dismantled historic barriers and opened up opportunity for more students than ever before,” outgoing schools Chancellor Meisha Porter said in a statement. Unlike last year, performing arts middle schools will be allowed to require auditions for admissions. Education department officials said most auditions will happen virtually, though schools can opt to do them in person.

Significant Reforms for High Schools The most significant changes this year will happen for high school admissions. Schools will still be allowed to screen, but they will not manage the application process themselves. Instead, students will submit applications for all screened programs through the city’s MySchools platform. Then, a team of education department officials will use “one centrally designed rubric” to make admissions decisions, according to the department. But it’s unclear to what extent the process will truly be streamlined. While schools “should” use the same set of criteria and rubrics, the department will give wiggle room “if needed” to school leaders who “wish to deviate,” a department spokesperson said. Screens have been whittled down to only first-semester grades from a student’s eighth-grade year and a sample of work. Schools will not consider attendance, nor will they use test scores, as last year’s state tests were opt-in and most students did not take them. The department will share the common rubric closer to when applications open, officials said. Depending on how many schools stick to the centralized process, those changes could add up to big departures from how the process has traditionally worked. In the past, schools set their own screens and students had to hunt down admissions criteria for each school. Some schools required their own essays or tests, or conducted interviews. Rubrics, which detail how admissions decisions are made, were often hard to find or unavailable. The process of ranking student applications could be timeintensive and expensive for schools. Joyce Szuflita, who runs NYC School Help, a company that assists families with their school search, said she expects parents to be concerned about the shift to using academic records from eighthgrade. Typically, the high school admissions process begins so early in the school year that student information from only their seventh-grade year is available. As a result, many parents who hope to have their children admitted to competitive schools push their children to have a stand-out seventh grade year. Sometimes that means paying for tutoring to boost their state test scores or sending their child to school sick to keep their attendance records up. “I think this is the first time ever they’ve used eighth-grade grades,” she said. “So people are going to be nervous about that because it hasn’t been anticipated.”

‘Incremental’ Steps Towards Integration Many of this year’s changes echo policies that advocates have said are necessary to make the admissions process more transparent, and therefore, fair. Berg, the executive director for Appleseed, said she was “encouraged” by the changes. “Two years ago, these processes were happening in black boxes,” she said. But the steps are only “incremental,” Berg said, especially because the education department didn’t couple the changes with policies aimed explicitly at integration. The city could do that by, for example, giving underserved students a priority for admissions — something that almost 50 middle schools and about 35 high schools across the city have opted for. Advocates have also argued the preservation of attendance zones and borough priorities could also shut students out of higher-performing schools beyond their neighborhoods. Berg said it will also be important to make sure parents, and school officials who help students navigate the application process, understand the new changes. “Transparency in policies is great, but if that transparency doesn’t trickle down to parents and students, then it can take away from the benefit,” she said. “They’re still placing students and families in the crosshairs of having to scramble through the holiday season to get applications in, in an already burdensome process.” One omission from the new policies: any changes to the specialized high schools process. While state law governs their admissions, some argue that the mayor has authority to change enrollment policies at a handful of the smaller specialized high schools — though de Blasio has contested that. l

Students wait to enter their high school in Elmhurst Queens on Sept. 13, 2021. New York City is changing the competitive admissions criteria for high schools, but keeping certain geographic priorities based on a student’s home borough or zone. Gabby Jones for Chalkbeat

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization covering public education. Republished by The CITY on December 15, 2021.