Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2023 Feb 6;18(2):e0280245. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280245. eCollection 2023.
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).
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.
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.
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.
纵观美国历史，由于缺乏获得高质量医疗保健和准确信息的机会，以及潜在的种族主义，慢性和传染病严重影响了少数族裔社区。在美国，这些少数族裔社区护理中的断层线因 COVID-19 大流行的兴起而进一步加剧。本研究调查了与种族和族裔相关的 COVID-19 疫苗犹豫因素，特别是在宾夕法尼亚州东部的非裔美国人和拉丁裔社区。
2021 年 7 月在宾夕法尼亚州费城、斯克兰顿、威尔克斯-巴里和哈泽尔顿收集了调查数据。203 名参与者（38.7%黑人，27.5%拉丁裔）完成了 28 个关于 COVID-19 疫苗接种态度的问题调查，可以用英语或西班牙语完成。
在 203 名参与者中，有 181 名符合所有纳入标准，包括完成调查；在这些参与者中，超过五分之三（63.5%）接受 COVID-19 疫苗，其余（36.5%）犹豫不决。二元逻辑回归结果表明，年龄、对疫苗疗效的关注、种族、对疫苗的了解以及对 COVID-19 病毒严重性的信念显著影响 COVID-19 疫苗犹豫。少数民族对疫苗接种的犹豫不决（OR：2.8，95%CI：1.1，6.8）的可能性高于非西班牙裔白人。那些认为 COVID-19 疫苗无效（OR：8.3，95%CI：3.8，18.2）和认为病毒不严重（OR：8.3，95%CI：1.1，61.8）的人表现出最大的犹豫几率。
少数族裔身份、年龄小于 45 岁、对 COVID-19 疾病严重程度的错误信息以及对疫苗疗效的关注是 COVID-19 疫苗犹豫的促成因素。因此，了解和解决少数群体中 COVID-19 疫苗接种的障碍对于减少传播和控制这一大流行病至关重要，并将为未来大流行中实施公共卫生措施提供经验教训。
