Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitance Analysis

Authors

Min Aung (mta2151)

Karl Garcia-Meza (krg2150)

Published

December 14, 2023

1 Introduction

Vaccine hesitance is where individuals express reluctance or refusal to receive vaccines despite the widespread availability of vaccination services. It has been a longstanding issue in public health globally, despite global public healthcare messaging. Some causes of vaccine hesitance include mistrust in healthcare systems, concerns about vaccine safety or efficacy, religious or cultural beliefs, and misinformation, as mentioned in articles by the American Academy of Family Physicians (linked here) and the NIH (linked here).

During the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine hesitance was an obstacle in the global response to the virus. The rapid development and deployment of COVID-19 vaccines simultaneously fueled scientific acclaim and concerns about their safety and long-term effects. Misinformation spread rapidly through social media and other channels, contributing to skepticism about the vaccines’ efficacy and safety. These uncertainties, coupled with existing mistrust in government health agencies and pharmaceutical companies, created a fertile ground for vaccine hesitance to take root.

The consequences of COVID-19 vaccine hesitance were profound. It slowed efforts to achieve widespread immunity, allowing the virus to persist and mutate, leading to the emergence of more transmissible variants. This prolonged the duration and severity of the pandemic, resulting in increased illness, death, and strain on healthcare systems worldwide, alongside exacerbating the economic and social impacts of the pandemic (source: Communications Medicine article linked here).

The challenges posed by vaccine hesitance during the COVID-19 pandemic underscore the importance of addressing this issue as an integral part of future public health strategies. To that end, we propose to:

  • Study which segments of the population exhibited greatest COVID vaccine hesitancy following the deployment of mass vaccinations in the US in early 2021.

  • Analyze which segments showed the greatest reduction in COVID vaccine hesitancy between 2021 and 2023.

  • Propose high-level recommendations for segments of the population that need further public health interventions.