A quarter of parents lied about whether their children were following COVID-19 public health measures (PHM), including misrepresenting vaccination status and falsifying the age of their children, a recent study has found.
The study, conducted among 580 U.S. parents between Dec. 8 and 23, 2021, asked whether they had engaged in any of the seven types of misrepresentation and nonadherence behaviors regarding COVID-19 PHM for their children. The seven behaviors included not mentioning their child had COVID-19, falsely claiming a higher age for their child to avoid getting vaccinated, falsely claiming their child had been vaccinated, claiming that their child was unvaccinated when in fact they had taken COVID-19 shots, saying their child did not have to quarantine though they had to, avoiding their child from getting tested due to concerns that they might have COVID-19, and allowing their child to break COVID-19 quarantine rules.
