Abstract
This study presents the results of a survey of 1591 hesitant U.S. essential workers, conducted over Pollfish in December 2020 when they were the only group eligible for the vaccine, aiming to describe their concerns regarding COVID-19 vaccine safety, effectiveness and distribution policies. We computed frequencies using the SAS software for each answer, using chi-squared statistics and Cochran–Armitage trend tests to determine how informational needs differ by age, gender, level of education, race, source of COVID-19 information and levels of vaccine acceptance. The results of this study show that freedom of choice, equal access to the vaccine and being able to live a life with no restrictions once vaccinated were important concerns since the early days of the distribution campaign, with 53% (836/1591), 42% (669/1591) and 35% (559/1591) of hesitant respondents, respectively, indicating they would be more likely to receive the COVID-19 vaccine if they felt these issues were satisfactorily addressed. Early risk communication and immunization campaign strategies should address not only the reported efficacy and safety of new vaccines, but, as equally important, the population’s perceptions and beliefs regarding personal choice, effectiveness and adverse consequences.
Highlights
For the binary variables age and source of COVID-19 vaccine information, a significant chi-squared statistic implies the two categories differ in informational needs, so we report the differences between the two categories regardless of the size of the squared Pearson residuals
Informational Needs Found to Be Positively Associated with Vaccine Acceptance in the Univariate Analysis In Table 4 we provide a summary of the informational needs with a positive association with vaccine acceptance
It is noteworthy that the top informational needs identified in our sample were not related to pharmaceutical or medical issues, such as the safety or effectiveness of the vaccine, but rather to the impact of vaccine policies on everyday life
Summary
An analysis of 39 nationally representative polls, conducted between August 2020 and February 2021, suggests that approximately 11% of the U.S public is skeptical about receiving the COVID-19 vaccine and that 17–22% are “definitely not” interested in receiving it [1,2]. At the time of this writing, in December 2021, approximately 72% of the U.S adult population is fully vaccinated [2]. As expressed in the polls, is followed by behavior, we may be hitting a plateau in vaccination rates among U.S adults. This situation could leave us with approximately 74 million adults at risk of experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, including people working in services that are important to the functioning of our society such as healthcare, education, transportation and other essential services
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