White Trenton M, Wyka Katarzyna, Rabin Kenneth, El-Mohandes Ayman
Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy, City University of New York (CUNY), New York City, United States.
Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Barcelona, Spain.
Vaccine X. 2024 Oct 29;21:100576. doi: 10.1016/j.jvacx.2024.100576. eCollection 2024 Dec.
To evaluate changes in public trust in the science behind COVID-19 vaccines in the United States (US) from 2021 to 2023, and to assess how loss of a family member or close friend to COVID-19, influences this trust and vaccine acceptance.
Using stratified random sampling for key demographic variables, including age, gender, race/ethnicity, region, and education level, the study analyzes data from a series of cross-sectional surveys conducted in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Descriptive statistics were employed to summarize the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents and their levels of trust in science and vaccine acceptance. Weighted logistic regression models were applied to assess the relationships between trust in science, vaccine acceptance, and socio-demographic factors. These models controlled for potential confounding variables and allowed for the estimation of adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), highlighting the key predictors of vaccine acceptance and willingness to receive future recommended boosters.
The results indicate that trust in science remained relatively stable over the study period and continued to be a strong predictor of vaccine acceptance, which was higher among male respondents, those with university degrees, and those with higher than median income. Notably, the experience of personal loss was significantly related to an individual's trust in science and vaccine acceptance.
Trust in the science behind COVID-19 vaccines appears to have been a crucial factor in US vaccine acceptance, with respondents who expressed higher trust being significantly more likely to accept the vaccine and express willingness to take future boosters. To maintain and enhance public trust in vaccination programs, trust in health communication from public sources, particularly the CDC, must be strengthened, as trust in the CDC was also found to be significantly correlated with both vaccine acceptance and future booster uptake. Personal experiences of loss due to COVID-19 were important predictors of trust in science and vaccine acceptance, highlighting the need for public health communications to be sensitive to the emotional impact of loss and grief along with the diverse socio-economic and educational backgrounds of the US population.
评估2021年至2023年美国公众对新冠疫苗背后科学的信任度变化，并评估因新冠疫情失去家庭成员或亲密朋友如何影响这种信任以及疫苗接受度。
该研究针对包括年龄、性别、种族/族裔、地区和教育水平等关键人口统计学变量采用分层随机抽样，分析了2021年、2022年和2023年进行的一系列横断面调查数据。采用描述性统计来总结受访者的社会人口特征及其对科学的信任程度和疫苗接受度。应用加权逻辑回归模型来评估对科学的信任、疫苗接受度与社会人口因素之间的关系。这些模型控制了潜在的混杂变量，并允许估计调整后的比值比（aOR）和95%置信区间（CI），突出了疫苗接受度和接受未来推荐加强针意愿的关键预测因素。
结果表明，在研究期间对科学的信任保持相对稳定，并且仍然是疫苗接受度的有力预测因素，男性受访者、拥有大学学位的人以及收入高于中位数的人疫苗接受度更高。值得注意的是，个人损失经历与个人对科学的信任和疫苗接受度显著相关。
对新冠疫苗背后科学的信任似乎是美国疫苗接受度的关键因素，表达更高信任的受访者更有可能接受疫苗并表示愿意接种未来的加强针。为了维持和增强公众对疫苗接种计划的信任，必须加强对来自公共来源（特别是疾病控制与预防中心）的健康信息的信任，因为研究还发现对疾病控制与预防中心的信任与疫苗接受度和未来加强针接种均显著相关。因新冠疫情导致的个人损失经历是对科学的信任和疫苗接受度的重要预测因素，这凸显了公共卫生宣传需要对损失和悲伤的情感影响以及美国人口多样的社会经济和教育背景保持敏感。
