COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in underserved communities of North Carolina

<h4>Background</h4> In the United States, underserved communities including Blacks and Latinx are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. This study sought to estimate the prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, describe attitudes related to vaccination, and identify correlates among...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Irene A. Doherty, William Pilkington, Laurin Brown, Victoria Billings, Undi Hoffler, Lisa Paulin, K. Sean Kimbro, Brittany Baker, Tianduo Zhang, Tracie Locklear, Seronda Robinson, Deepak Kumar
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:
R
Q
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/249bb708cbf942d88e3c20960c2826da
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:<h4>Background</h4> In the United States, underserved communities including Blacks and Latinx are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. This study sought to estimate the prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, describe attitudes related to vaccination, and identify correlates among historically marginalized populations across 9 counties in North Carolina. <h4>Methods</h4> We conducted a cross-sectional survey distributed at free COVID-19 testing events in underserved rural and urban communities from August 27 –December 15, 2020. Vaccine hesitancy was defined as the response of “no” or “don’t know/not sure” to whether the participant would get the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as it became available. <h4>Results</h4> The sample comprised 948 participants including 27.7% Whites, 59.6% Blacks, 12.7% Latinx, and 63% female. 32% earned <$20K annually, 60% owned a computer and ~80% had internet access at home. The prevalence of vaccine hesitancy was 68.9% including 62.7%, 74%, and 59.5% among Whites, Blacks, and Latinx, respectively. Between September and December, the largest decline in vaccine hesitancy occurred among Whites (27.5 percentage points), followed by Latinx (17.6) and only 12.0 points among Blacks. 51.2% of respondents reported vaccine safety concerns, 23.7% wanted others to get vaccinated first, and 63.1% would trust health care providers about the COVID-19 vaccine. Factors associated with hesitancy in multivariable logistic regression included being female (OR = 1.90 95%CI [1.36, 2.64]), being Black (OR = 1.68 1.16, 2.45]), calendar month (OR = 0.76 [0.63, 0.92]), safety concerns (OR = 4.28 [3.06, 5.97]), and government distrust (OR = 3.57 [2.26, 5.63]). <h4>Conclusions</h4> This study engaged the community to directly reach underserved minority populations at highest risk of COVID-19 that permitted assessment of vaccine hesitancy (which was much higher than national estimates), driven in part by distrust, and safety concerns.