Evidence shows that marginalized groups such as individuals with lower incomes and people of color are in general less likely to receive vaccinations. Previous research from SHADAC using the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey (HPS) confirms that this pattern holds true with the COVID-19 vaccine as well. Understanding why certain subpopulations are not receiving COVID-19 vaccines is crucial to improving equity of vaccinations. However, it is difficult to separate operational barriers from social ones when looking solely at vaccination rates. This blog uses data from the HPS to illuminate the latter by looking at vaccine hesitancy among U.S. adults (age 18 and older) for January--March 2021, by region, race/ethnicity, income, and reported reasons for hesitancy. The HPS defines Vaccine hesitancy as reporting at least one of 11 reasons to not receive the vaccine within a given survey week. These reasons include: (1) Concerned about possible side effects; (2) Plan to wait and see if it is safe and may get it later; (3) Think other people need it more than I do right now; (4) Don't know if a COVID-19 vaccine will work; (5) Don't trust COVID-19 vaccines; (6) Don't trust the government; (7) Don't believe I need a COVID-19 vaccine; (8) Don't like vaccines; (9) Concerned about the cost of a COVID-19 vaccine; (10) My doctor has not recommended it; (11) Other Reason.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-ND license. (More information)
Extent:
1 online resource (1 PDF file (4 unnumbered pages))