Abstract
Although COVID-19 vaccines are widely available in the U.S. and much of the world, many have chosen to forgo this vaccination. Emergency medical services (EMS) professionals, despite their role on the frontlines and interactions with COVID-positive patients, are not immune to vaccine hesitancy. Via a survey conducted in April 2021, we investigated the extent to which first responders in the U.S. trusted various information sources to provide reliable information about COVID-19 vaccines. Those vaccinated generally trusted healthcare providers as a source of information, but unvaccinated first responders had fairly low trust in this information source—a group to which they, themselves, belong. Additionally, regardless of vaccination status, trust in all levels of government, employers, and their community as sources of information was low. Free-response explanations provided some context to these findings, such as preference for other COVID-19 management options, including drugs proven ineffective. A trusted source of COVID-19 vaccination information is not readily apparent. Individuals expressed a strong desire for the autonomy to make vaccination decisions for themselves, as opposed to mandates. Potential reasons for low trust, possible solutions to address them, generalizability to the broader public, and implications of low trust in official institutions are discussed.
Highlights
We examine the relationship between COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and trust within an important group of first responders—emergency medical service (EMS) professionals—and discuss approaches to building trust that may help strengthen our response to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as healthcare infrastructure
We distributed a survey to a simple random sample of civilian EMTs and paramedics aged 18–85 years old from a database of the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT), the national certification body for Emergency medical services (EMS) in the U.S Survey distribution began on 20 April 2021, which was after vaccinations had been released to all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) phase 1a and 1b groups [19,20,21] and after the Department of Health and Human Services had released a directive on 17 March 2021 to vaccinate all adults due to sufficient vaccine supply [22]
We provided a list of information sources and asked participants to check-all-that-apply to indicate which of these sources they trusted to provide reliable information about COVID-19 vaccines
Summary
COVID-19 Vaccinations in the U.S. Leading public health organizations agree that vaccination is a critical strategy to combat the COVID-19 pandemic [1,2]. In spite of a massive vaccine campaign, as of early October 2021, only 65.1% of those eligible in the U.S have been fully vaccinated [3]. That proportion is less for individuals aged 18–24 (52.1%) and 25–39 (56.2%) [4]. The emergence of the COVID-19 variants have added greater urgency for vaccine protection. The Delta variant is more contagious than earlier strains of COVID-19 [5] and at the
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
