CASE Cover REPORT Story
by Zain Alfanek , MD , MPH ; 1 , 2 Clare C Brown , PhD , MPH ; 2 Benjamin Amick , PhD ; 2 M . Kathryn Stewart , MD , MPH 2
1
College of Medicine , UAMS , Little Rock , Ark .
2
Fay W . Boozman College of Public Health , UAMS , Little Rock , Ark .
COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Adult Arkansans
Abstract
With the introduction of novel vaccines against the coronavirus , one major concern of public health experts is vaccine hesitancy among the public . We surveyed adult Arkansans to assess their level of vaccine hesitancy and reasons behind it . We found that more than half of respondents were hesitant to get the vaccine and that hesitancy was associated with less-safe behaviors and attitudes during the pandemic . In addition , 20 % of individuals who were hesitant to receive the vaccine could potentially be convinced otherwise by their health care provider . Therefore , continued outreach by health care providers regarding the safety and efficacy of the vaccine may reduce COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Arkansas .
Purpose of Study
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a major toll on people in the U . S ., with over 33 million total cases and 593,000 deaths from the start of the pandemic through the beginning of May 2021 . Starting in late fall of 2020 , multiple major pharmaceutical companies received approval for a novel vaccine against the coronavirus . One major concern of public health experts at the time was the hesitancy of the public towards these vaccines , especially in the context of mass media information regarding safety and efficacy of the new vaccine approach that used mRNA technology . We set out to better understand the level of vaccine hesitancy of adult Arkansans as well as reasons behind the hesitancy .
Who was surveyed ?
Adults 18 years or older who spoke Spanish or English were included in the study . There were 330 people who answered the vaccine questions . Half identified as males and half as females . In the sample , 71 % self-identified as White / Caucasian , 20 % as Black / African American , and 5 % as Hispanic / Latinx . Among those surveyed , 36 % were between the ages of 18-39 , 31 % were between 40-59 , and 32 % were 60 years of age or older . The analysis included an approach to allow for the results to be representative of all Arkansas by weighting for age , race , and sex .
Why the hesitation ?
Of the respondents , 43 % said that they would take the COVID-19 vaccine if offered to them for free , 37 % said no , and 20 % were unsure . Looking at these responses by race , nearly 50 % of the respondents who self-identified as Black / African American said they would not get the vaccine if available to them for free , compared to 34 % of those who identify as White / Caucasian and 29 % of respondents who identify as Hispanic / Latinx .
Of the people who said that they would not get a vaccine if it were free or who were unsure , 23 % reported it was due to concern about the short time it took to develop the vaccine , 28 % wanted more time to confirm safety of the vaccine , 19 % wanted more time to confirm efficacy , 16 % did not think a vaccine would matter , and 14 % reported distrust of vaccines in general .
We found that the willingness to get the vaccine was correlated with certain COVID-19-related attitudes . As seen in the figure below , respondents who did not believe that masks help prevent the spread of COVID-19 were twice as likely to say they would not get the vaccine compared to individuals who believe that masks work ( 65 % vs 28 % [ red portion of bar chart 1A ]). Similarly , respondents who thought that they have no chance of getting COVID-19 were more likely to say no to getting the vaccine compared to those who thought they had a high chance of getting the virus ( 45 % vs 29 %, [ bar chart 1B ]).
Additionally , we found relationships between vaccine hesitancy and behaviors . Respondents who reported that they regularly wear a mask were nearly half as likely to say no to getting the vaccine compared to respondents who do not regularly wear a mask ( 36 % vs 61 %, [ bar chart 1C ]). Individuals who reported they regularly attend social gatherings of 10 or more people were more hesitant to get the vaccine compared to individuals who did not attend social gatherings regularly ( 61 % vs 32 %, [ bar chart 1D ]).
Data Collection
Our data were collected using the Pandemic Pulse Poll , administered by the Fay W . Boozman College of Public Health at UAMS . The poll was conducted from May through December 2020 via random-digit dial phone surveys of adult Arkansans . Data for the vaccine questions pertinent to our project were collected from 12 / 12 / 2020- 12 / 29 / 2020 .
Figure 1 . 162 • The Journal of the Arkansas Medical Society www . ArkMed . org