Associations between religion, religiosity, and parental vaccine hesitancy

Joshua T B Williams; John D Rice; Sean T O'Leary

doi:10.1016/j.jvacx.2021.100121

Associations between religion, religiosity, and parental vaccine hesitancy

Vaccine X. 2021 Oct 28:9:100121. doi: 10.1016/j.jvacx.2021.100121. eCollection 2021 Dec.

Authors

Joshua T B Williams^{1

2

3}, John D Rice^{4

5}, Sean T O'Leary^{2

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ambulatory Care Services, Denver Health and Hospital Authority, Denver, CO, USA.
² Office of Research, Denver Health and Hospital Authority, Denver, CO, USA.
³ Department of Pediatrics, The University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA.
⁴ Department of Biostatistics and Informatics, Colorado School of Public Health, Aurora, CO, USA.
⁵ Adult and Child Consortium for Health Outcomes Research and Delivery Science (ACCORDS), Aurora, CO, USA.
⁶ Section of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, The University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA.

Abstract

Introduction: Religious vaccine exemptions are widely available and increasing despite decreases in American religiosity. We tested associations between religion, religiosity, and caregiver vaccine hesitancy in a sample of caregivers of 2-year-olds.

Methods: We analyzed data from a 2020 survey in three pediatric clinics, estimating distinct multivariable logistic regression models to examine associations.

Results: Our sample included 255 predominantly poor, Latino, Christian, and English-speaking caregivers (response rate: 90%); 13% were vaccine hesitant. Caregivers identifying with major faith traditions were not more likely to be hesitant than those without a tradition (adjusted odds ratio 1.46; 95% CI 0.29, 7.26). There were no significant associations between caregiver vaccine hesitancy and three religiosity domains.

Conclusions: We found no associations between parental vaccine hesitancy, religiosity, or adherence to a major faith tradition in a sample of mostly poor, Latino, Christian mothers. Additional work is needed to inform exemption policies and public health and faith leaders.

Keywords: Religion; Religiosity; Religious exemptions; Vaccine hesitancy.