A pair of new US studies late last week in JAMA Network Open shed new light on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, finding that reluctance to get vaccinated fell faster among Black than White Americans and revealing a link between depression and vulnerability to vaccine misinformation.White adults less likely to think vaccines neededA research team led by Ohio State University scientists in Columbus surveyed 1,200 US adults recruited from an online nonprobability panel each month from Dec 9, 2020, to Jun 16, 2021.
The goal was to learn their level of COVID-19 vaccination intention and beliefs about the safety, efficacy, and necessity of the vaccines.Average weighted participant age was 49.5 years, 52.0% were women, 64.0% were White, and 12.2% were Black.
The survey participation rate was 57.0%.When the study began, about 38% of Black and 28% of White participants were vaccine-hesitant, but by June, 26% of Black and 27% of White participants were reluctant.
Similarly, the belief that the vaccines were necessary rose more among Black than White participants in March and April.Beliefs that COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective, and necessary were positively tied to intention to vaccinate, and there was no evidence that these associations varied by race.The study authors noted that lower levels of vaccine uptake among Black populations are often attributed to vaccine hesitancy but may actually be due to access factors, such as distant vaccination sites, lack of transportation, and rigid work hours.In an Ohio State University press release, senior author R.