Table 6.

Pandemic-Related Factors in COVID-19 Vaccine Decision-Making.

Theme	Participant Quotes
Protecting child’s and adult’s emotional health	“My son plays sports and so far, we do take him for his games, but there’s always a constant fear. What if he contracts it, right? He may not get impacted, but if he’s a carrier and we get it, then what happens, right? So yeah, that might be one benefit of getting your child vaccinated—that you don’t have to live in a constant fear”—Parent 16
	“At this point, mental health, not so much for the adults, but for children and teens in particular. Yeah, it’s been a challenge”—Parent 44
	“I think mentally, too, it gives a sense of security, right, that we’re all protected to some extent”—Parent 46
	“I think it [vaccinating] would be very helpful, has been like a sense of relief. At least just a little bit, you know, lowering that risk of exposure to my children and into the community because we, you know, like a lot of us, we don’t go out, but we go to church or we go to the supermarket and just want to do what I can at least on my part to … be safe”—Parent 32
Resuming social activities	“I feel bad for my senior. He lost half of 11th grade and now he’s a senior and applying for colleges and I feel like he’s going to still be a senior going into college. … I just feel so bad, you know. And my daughter, who graduated eighth grade, didn’t finish eighth grade, didn’t have her ceremony, and then now she’s a freshman and has not stepped foot on high school campus—has no idea. So, it’s almost like all of our kids are one grade behind mentally. … It’s like they lost an age”—Parent 26
	“It’s just the fact that once the child gets vaccinated, they can engage in more activities”—Parent 16
	“My husband’s family, there are kind of a lot of seniors in the family, and they all got vaccinated. … They said if you don’t get the vaccine, you’re not welcome to the party”—Parent 12
	“I don’t think I’m going to be the first one to line up for it, but I also want to be able to see people right, you know what I mean, and do certain things, so if that helps me or helps people be able to feel more comfortable, then I would consider it more”—Parent 20
Vaccine mandates	“I guess if it was mandated, for instance, to attend whether it’s high school or college or to fly, then obviously, you know, we’re going to get it”—Parent 15
	“It might be more related to things we value, rather than information. So, work opportunities or doing things that are important to us like being able to travel. We have family who are spread out both internationally and across the country, so if it was required for travel, we would because that that would supersede our perceived risk or hesitation to take it”—Parent 37