COVID-19 caused more serious medical consequences among the elderly and intergenerational transmission played a key role in COVID-19 infection. We utilized two large-scale multinational surveys to uncover the importance of family ties in infection prevention among 93 countries. We measured country-level family ties with emphasis on respondents' view of their parents using the World Values Survey and elicited individual health behavior attitudes from a panel study conducted each month between March 2020 and July 2021. We find that in countries with stronger family ties people show more willingness for non-pharmaceutical interventions and vaccines; moreover young people are more supportive of mandatory vaccination. The effect of family ties was salient before COVID-19 vaccines became available and was persistent before the global vaccination coverage reached 25%.
