Race, Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Willingness to Vaccinate for COVID-19

Abstract

Around the world, and particularly in the United States, where COVID-19 vaccinations are widely available, questions about vaccine acceptance have become very important. Working with an online sample of 788 cisgender adults living in Southeastern United States, we studied predictors of variation in the willingness to vaccinate. Guided by the Health Belief Model, we assessed perceived threat, motivations for vaccination, hesitations about vaccination, personal health conditions, and demographic variables among participants who varied in race (“White” and “Black”), gender (cisgender men, women), and sexual identity (heterosexual, sexual minority). Consistent with the Health Belief Model, results showed that demographics (e.g., race, sex, political affiliation, etc.), perceived threat of COVID-19, motivations for vaccination, and hesitations about vaccination significantly predicted willingness to vaccinate. Over and above the predictions based on all of these variables, sexual identity was also a significant predictor; members of sexual minorities were more likely than their heterosexual peers to be willing to vaccinate. Overall, we found that taking sexual orientation into account can lead to improved prediction of the willingness to vaccinate. For this reason, public health officials should account for sexual identity in their models of vaccination uptake.