Knowledge and identity antecedents of COVID-19 vaccine status: a study of South Carolina residents.

INTRODUCTION

Despite over three years of learning about SARS-CoV-2 and extensive work to develop vaccines, vaccination rates remain suboptimal, thereby preventing our society from reaching herd immunity.

PURPOSE

Extant literature on vaccine hesitancy led us to hypothesize that specific socio/political variables may be contributing to low vaccination rates, particularly in South Carolina.

METHODS

By use of Qualtrics surveys, we collected data from people across all counties in South Carolina regarding vaccine status, plans to vaccinate, and a host of demographics.

RESULTS

Findings revealed that those less likely to be vaccinated against COVID-19 tended to be younger, female, republican. Interestingly, COVID-19 knowledge did not appear to differ between vaccination status groups, although COVID-19 vaccine and general vaccine knowledge did differ.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that while understanding of COVID-19 was relatively similar across groups, targeted and tailored interventions aimed at enhancing the public's general and COVID-19-specific vaccine knowledge may aid efforts to reach herd immunity.