Introduction:

Risk-benefit analysis of the COVID-19 vaccine in children is challenging because of the relative effects of this vaccine. Therefore, the decision to vaccinate children rests with the parents.

Aim:

To assess the association between parental knowledge and acceptability for their children to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Methods:

Observational study of cross-sectional and analytical design with a population of 270 parents of students from a primary school in Lima, conducted in the period 2021-2022. A questionnaire was used to measure knowledge of the COVID-19 vaccine, a question to assess parental acceptability of this vaccine for their children and a data sheet to measure parental characteristics. Binary and multivariate logistic regression was considered in the statistical analysis.

Results:

79.63% of parents accepted the COVID-19 vaccine for their children and 69.26% were aware of this vaccine. Furthermore, knowledge was shown to be associated with acceptability of COVID-19 vaccine (PRa:1.22, CI:1.08-1.37, p = 0.001).

Conclusions:

The majority of parents were knowledgeable about the COVID-19 vaccine and a large proportion of them accepted their children to be vaccinated. In addition, parents who were more knowledgeable about COVID-19 were more willing to have their children vaccinated. It is recommended that health personnel promote safe information for parents to make proper decisions.

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