COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: A Critical Time Period Analysis

John R. Kues, Jacqueline M. Knapke, Shereen Elshaer, Angela M. Mendell, Laura Hildreth, Stephanie M. Schuckman, Julie Wijesooriya and Melinda Butsch Kovacic
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John R. Kues: Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
Jacqueline M. Knapke: Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
Shereen Elshaer: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
Angela M. Mendell: Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
Laura Hildreth: Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
Stephanie M. Schuckman: Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
Julie Wijesooriya: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
Melinda Butsch Kovacic: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 13, 1-8

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has been a devastating, global public health crisis. Public health systems in the United States heavily focused on getting people to adhere to preventive behaviors, and later, to get vaccinated. January through May of 2021 was a critical and volatile time period for COVID-19 cases, deaths, and expanding vaccination programs coinciding with important political and social events which will have a lasting impact on how the public views science, places trust in our government, and views individual rights. Having collected almost 1400 surveys, our goal was to assess vaccine behavior, explore attitudes toward receiving the vaccine, and identify trusted information sources. More than 83% of our survey respondents said they were at least partially vaccinated. Of 246 unvaccinated, 31.3% were somewhat or extremely likely to get vaccinated when available. Their two most common concerns were vaccine effectiveness (41.1%) and safety (40.2%). Significant differences were observed between respondents who were likely to be vaccinated in the future and those who were hesitant on three of five demographic variables. Our data provide unique insight into the history of behavior and motivations related to COVID-19 vaccines—what will be seen as a “wicked problem” for years to come.

Keywords: vaccine hesitancy; COVID-19; pandemic; cross-sectional survey design; community-engaged (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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