Support for a COVID-19 vaccine mandate in schools modest among NYC parents

School-based vaccine mandates are the most effective way to improve vaccination coverage in children, but a new study by CUNY SPH researchers shows only modest support among New York City parents for a COVID-19 vaccine mandate in schools.

For the study, which was published last week in the journal Vaccine, Assistant Professor Chloe Teasdale, Dean Ayman El-Mohandes and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional survey of parents in New York City in November 2021 to measure acceptability of COVID-19 vaccine mandates for students, teachers and school staff.

Among 2,506 parents surveyed, 44.3% supported school-based vaccine mandates for students and 69.1% supported mandates for teachers and school staff.

Asian parents, male parents, those with higher income, college education, those voting for the 2021 Democratic mayoral candidate and parents from Manhattan were most likely to support vaccine mandates for students.

Among all parents, 25.1% said they would not vaccinate their child if required.

"We found strong support for vaccine mandates for teachers, which had already been implemented at the time of our survey and were highly effective in achieving over 90% vaccination coverage among staff in New York City schools," says Teasdale. "Unfortunately, there is still a lot of work to do helping parents overcome hesitancy about vaccinating their children. We need continue our efforts to help parents understand that COVID-19 vaccines for kids are safe, effective and necessary. In addition to this work, mandates may be needed to increase vaccination coverage in schools given the expectation of continued surges, particularly in the fall and winter."