PARENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS COVID-19 VACCINES AND TOPICAL FLUORIDE FOR CHILDREN: IS THERE A SIMILARITY OR DIFFERENCE IN PREVENTIVE MEDICAL AND DENTAL APPROACHES: A SURVEY STUDY

Abstract

Background and Aims: COVID-19 can cause multisystem effects that involve various organs. Hence, the vaccine has great importance worldwide. Today, it is seen that parents have different approaches to the COVID-19 vaccine. In previous studies, it was found that attitudes of parents against preventive treatments such as fluoride and childhood vaccines were similar. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between parents’ attitudes towards fluoride applications and COVID-19 vaccine. Materials and Methods: A survey was performed in 2021 on 207 parents who have children between 4-16 ages, residing in Istanbul, Turkey. The survey includes demographic variables, hesitations about COVID-19 vaccine and fluoride, reasons behind these hesitations, safety concerns, source of information, and vaccine hesitancy scale. Results: It was observed that the rate of COVID-19 vaccine rejection is quite high, and also parents’ refusal of COVID-19 vaccine for their children is related to fluoride refusal. Parents who refused childhood vaccinations were more likely to also refuse COVID-19 vaccine. Mothers’ refusal rate for these two preventive treatments was higher than fathers’ rates. Parents whose source of information was the internet, have higher rates of fluoride refusal, but no such result has been found for COVID-19 vaccine and source of information. Conclusions: COVID-19 vaccine and fluoride rejection are found to be correlated. The findings from this study underlined the requirement for detailed qualitative studies on the complex socio-demographic factors associated with refusal of preventive treatments. Improving parents’ mentality of the preventive treatments’ benefits, more studies are needed to reduce rejection rates of fluoride and COVID-19 vaccine.