• Matthew W Kreuter, Rachel Garg, Alexis Marsh, Tess Thompson, Charlene Caburnay, Enguday Teshome, Saneel Kulkarni, Thidaporn Tanpattana, Jennifer Wolff, and Amy McQueen.
• Health Communication Research Laboratory, The Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, 1 Brookings Drive, Campus Box 1196, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States of America. Electronic address: mkreuter@wustl.edu.
• Prev Med. 2022 Mar 1; 156: 106959106959.

AbstractCOVID-19 vaccines have been granted emergency use authorization for children ages 5 years and older. To understand how racially and ethnically diverse parents of young children enrolled in Medicaid feel about a prospective COVID-19 vaccine for their children, we administered an online survey that included both close-ended and open-ended items to a statewide sample in Florida (n = 1951). We used quantitative responses to conduct a statistical audience segmentation analysis that identified five distinct sub-groups that varied widely in the likelihood that they would get a COVID-19 vaccine for their child. Qualitative responses were used to illustrate differences between the groups. The youngest Black and White mothers were least likely to vaccinate their child (24%), followed by Black and White mothers in their early 30s (36%), younger Hispanic and mixed-race or other race parents (45%), older mothers (48%) and older fathers (71%). Unique challenges to building vaccine confidence emerged for each group. The youngest Black and White mothers were more likely to report their lives being worse during the COVID-19 pandemic, were far more negative and less positive about a COVID-19 vaccine, and were more concerned about paying bills than preventing COVID-19. Younger Hispanic and mixed-race parents were less negative, but more likely to use emotional language (e.g., scared, nervous, worried) talking about a COVID-19 vaccine, and more likely to report that protecting their child's health was their top concern. Recommendations are made for applying the insights gained in outreach and education efforts.Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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