Profiles of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy by race and ethnicity in eastern Pennsylvania

PLoS One. 2023 Feb 6;18(2):e0280245. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280245. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Background: Throughout US history, chronic and infectious diseases have severely impacted minority communities due to a lack of accessibility to quality healthcare and accurate information, as well as underlying racism. These fault lines in the care of minority communities in the US have been further exacerbated by the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined the factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy by race and ethnicity, particularly among African American and Latinx communities in Eastern Pennsylvania (PA).

Methods: Survey data was collected in July 2021 in Philadelphia, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and Hazleton, PA. The 203 participants (38.7% Black, 27.5% Latinx) completed the 28-question survey of COVID-19 vaccination attitudes in either English or Spanish.

Result: Out of the 203 participants, 181 participants met all the inclusion criteria, including completed surveys; of these participants, over three-fifths (63.5%) were acceptant of the COVID-19 vaccine whereas the remainder (36.5%) were hesitant. Binary logistic regression results showed that age, concern for vaccine efficacy, race, knowledge on the vaccine, and belief that the COVID-19 virus is serious significantly influenced COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Minorities were more likely to be hesitant toward vaccination (OR: 2.8, 95% CI: 1.1, 6.8) than non-Hispanic whites. Those who believed the COVID-19 vaccine was ineffective (OR: 8.3, 95% CI: 3.8, 18.2), and that the virus is not serious (OR: 8.3, 95% CI: 1.1, 61.8) showed the greatest odds of hesitancy.

Conclusions: Minority status, age less than 45 years, misinformation about seriousness of COVID-19 illness, and concern about vaccine efficacy were contributing factors of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Therefore, understanding and addressing the barriers to COVID-19 vaccination in minority groups is essential to decreasing transmission and controlling this pandemic, and will provide lessons on how to implement public health measures in future pandemics.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19 Vaccines / therapeutic use
  • COVID-19* / epidemiology
  • COVID-19* / prevention & control
  • Ethnicity*
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Pandemics
  • Philadelphia
  • Vaccination

Substances

  • COVID-19 Vaccines

Grants and funding

Health Resources and Services Administration grant (D34HP31205) supports Center of Excellence at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. Many of the authors participate in the undergraduate summer program at Center of Excellence whose purpose recruit underrepresented minority students in the health professions. BJP receives salary support from the HRSA Grant as faculty at the center. The funder had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of manuscript. BJP was until 12/31/2021 part of an osteoarthritis research team supported by Pfizer (CP208546) and Eli Lilly (CP208546). The other authors declare there were no potential financial interests or personal relationships that could be considered conflicts of interest. The funders had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of manuscript.