Parents’ trust in COVID-19 messengers and implications for vaccination
American Journal of Health Promotion, 2024
This paper identifies factors associated with parents’ trust in messengers of COVID-19 guidance and shows that trust in doctors is associated with caregiver and child vaccination. Between January and June 2022, we surveyed 567 caregivers of elementary and middle school students in Maryland about trust in 9 messengers, demographics, and COVID-19 vaccination status. The most trusted messengers were doctors, family members, and schools. Parent characteristics were associated with trust, and trust was linked to vaccination. Awareness of variability in trusted health messengers can optimize willingness to listen to public health guidance.
Recommended citation: Klein LM, Habib DRS, Edwards LV, Hager ER, Berry AA, Connor KA, Calderon G, Liu Y, Johnson SB. Parents’ trust in COVID-19 messengers and implications for vaccination. Am J Health Promot. 2024;38(3):364-374. doi:10.1177/08901171231204480