New U of C study aims to help children overcome fear of COVID-19 vaccine needles

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A new study from the University of Calgary aims to arm parents with tools to help their children overcome fears of needles and the pain of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

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The study is recruiting families from across Canada with children ages 4 to 11 who have not yet been immunized against the novel coronavirus.

“We want our children to be vaccinated, and there is a lot of excitement right now among many that Health Canada has approved COVID-19 vaccines for children under the age of five,” said Dr. Melanie Noel, a fellow at the Hospital Research Institute. Alberta Children’s Institute and the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, as well as a professor of clinical psychology at U of C.

“What we do know is that these vaccine injections can be stressful, they can be painful, they can be scary for some families. What’s really exciting for us is that as a team of researchers we know the simple yet powerful things we can do to make these vaccine injections less painful, less scary, and actually empowering for children and families.”

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The remote study will provide families with resources and strategies that can help facilitate pediatric vaccines. These include the use of numbing cream, distractions, and changing the way they talk to children about vaccinations.

Families are also asked to complete questionnaires and participate in a short telephone interview. Participants also receive $40 in gift cards for participating.

Giving kids a positive experience getting their COVID-19 vaccine can help them with future shots and other medical experiences in the future, Noel said.

“The goal is to really share what we know from decades of research, as well as some really exciting recent research from our research center, and use it to enhance these experiences,” Noel said.

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“We know that how these experiences go can set the stage for how they go in the future. They can set the stage for how children deal with health care in the future.”

As of August 1, the last day the data was updated, 50.3% of Alberta children ages 5-11 received their first COVID-19 vaccine and 36.4% received two doses . While vaccines have been available to this younger cohort for less time than older Albertans, uptake still lags far behind the 90.7 percent of Albertans age 12 and older who have at least one vaccine.

Noel said he hopes this study can help give families the boost they need to get vaccinated.

“We know this hesitancy to get vaccinated, people who want to avoid it or postpone it, could be because they don’t know how it’s going to turn out, or parents don’t like needles,” he said. “Empowering parents and kids by giving them things that might help them get better, it’s our hope that that will increase trust, increase how well it works, but also increase acceptance.”

Families wishing to enroll in the study should email [email protected] with their name and phone number with the subject line ‘CN Study’.

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Twitter: @jasonfherring