The associations between childhood vaccine history and COVID-19 vaccine uptake among older adults in 28 high-income countries

The associations between childhood vaccine history and COVID-19 vaccine uptake among older adults in 28 high-income countries | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article The associations between childhood vaccine history and COVID-19 vaccine uptake among older adults in 28 high-income countries Xu Zong This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5496025/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background: Increasing vaccination uptake is critical for population health. However, little is known about the how childhood vaccination affects vaccination intake in adulthood. This study aims to examine the long-term associations between childhood vaccination history and COVID-19 vaccine uptake among older adults. Method: The study utilized data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe, which included information on demographic variables, childhood vaccination, and COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Daily COVID-19 stringency data from Our World in Data was also incorporated into the study. The study cohort consisted of 48,963 participants from 27 European countries and Israel, of whom 81% (39,653) were vaccinated against COVID-19. A lasso regression machine learning approach was utilized to identify key confounders from a pool of 19 potential confounders. Logistic regression was then used to analyze the association between childhood vaccination and COVID -19 vaccine uptake in later life. Result: Childhood vaccination was found to be associated with COVID-19 vaccine uptake among middle-aged and older adults (OR = 1.66, 95% CI = [1.42, 1.94], p < 0.001) after adjusting for 16 demographics, mitigation behavior and COVID-19-related variables. Older age significantly enhanced this association. Conclusions: This study is the first to demonstrate a significant association between childhood vaccine history and adult vaccine behavior. This highlights the importance of childhood vaccination status in promoting COVID-19 vaccination among older adults. These findings support policies that emphasize the long-term value of childhood vaccination. Vaccine hesitancy Childhood vaccination COVID-19 vaccine uptake SHARE Life course Vaccine behaviors Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5496025","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":528640018,"identity":"e0226cd2-4d8c-4fb0-a110-d4eca6b5bfac","order_by":0,"name":"Xu Zong","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA30lEQVRIie3RPQrCMBTA8RcK6VJxrSD2ChEP4FUSCnaxu4NKpfCmHkBv0U3dlIBdeoBu2hu0o5vxC5xiRsH85/fjvRAAm+2HGzBwEuDAPXCOiREZMSAvQoUZEfmdgEJAuX6UVdxp2t0i2rqrtKl3kz5QR7+lt+Yw3JRFvM+O6Ityqg4jetL1OYQdPMV5JRAEzjwIVnpCFZGKROxcp82DGGwhaQfnnFUk8QUaHNbL6pRs8DDMS6HeghOPfiOsCGXT4jJghZTtFcNxl7oXLYHnd8iP132Zf7c0nLPZbLa/7AYS/UaqDirDRgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Max Planck - University of Helsinki Center for Social Inequalities in Population Health","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xu","middleName":"","lastName":"Zong","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-11-21 08:23:14","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5496025/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5496025/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":100237184,"identity":"71bb297a-729a-4897-95c2-8923bbffd5cd","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-14 12:41:01","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":520261,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"2.ManuscriptmaintextBMCpublichealthwithouttrackedchangeJune25th.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5496025/v1_covered_199e5dc1-864f-496d-944c-689fcc1f2cbe.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"The associations between childhood vaccine history and COVID-19 vaccine uptake among older adults in 28 high-income countries","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Vaccine hesitancy, Childhood vaccination, COVID-19 vaccine uptake, SHARE, Life course, Vaccine behaviors","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5496025/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5496025/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBackground: \u003c/strong\u003eIncreasing vaccination uptake is critical for population health. However, little is known about the how childhood vaccination affects vaccination intake in adulthood. This study aims to examine the long-term associations between childhood vaccination history and COVID-19 vaccine uptake among older adults.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMethod:\u003c/strong\u003e The study utilized data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe, which included information on demographic variables, childhood vaccination, and COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Daily COVID-19 stringency data from Our World in Data was also incorporated into the study. The study cohort consisted of 48,963 participants from 27 European countries and Israel, of whom 81% (39,653) were vaccinated against COVID-19. A lasso regression machine learning approach was utilized to identify key confounders from a pool of 19 potential confounders. Logistic regression was then used to analyze the association between childhood vaccination and COVID -19 vaccine uptake in later life.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eResult: \u003c/strong\u003eChildhood vaccination was found to be associated with COVID-19 vaccine uptake among middle-aged and older adults (OR = 1.66, 95% CI = [1.42, 1.94], p \u0026lt; 0.001) after adjusting for 16 demographics, mitigation behavior and COVID-19-related variables. Older age significantly enhanced this association.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConclusions: \u003c/strong\u003eThis study is the first to demonstrate a significant association between childhood vaccine history and adult vaccine behavior. This highlights the importance of childhood vaccination status in promoting COVID-19 vaccination among older adults. 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