Author
Listed:
- Timothy R. Elliott
(Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA)
- Paul B. Perrin
(Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284, USA)
- Mark B. Powers
(Trauma Research Consortium, Baylor Scott & White Research Institute, Department of Trauma, Critical Care and Acute Care Surgery, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75246, USA)
- Katelin S. Jacobi
(Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA)
- Ann Marie Warren
(Trauma Research Consortium, Baylor Scott & White Research Institute, Department of Trauma, Critical Care and Acute Care Surgery, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75246, USA)
Abstract
Most studies of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among health care workers (HCWs) have been descriptive, few have tested models to predict hesitancy, and none have examined the possible relationship between HCWs’ distress and vaccine hesitancy. This study examined predictors of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, including HCWs’ distress after taking into account HCW sex, doctoral-level status, race, age, and exposure to COVID-19. Further, it examined specific reasons HCWs endorsed for their hesitancy. 266 HCWs in the United States (U.S.). completed an online survey administered in January 2021, following the availability of the vaccine for HCWs in the U.S. The survey assessed demographics, depression, anxiety, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, and reasons for hesitancy. A comprehensive linear regression model explained 72.2% of the variance in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. HCWs were more hesitant if they did not know someone personally who had tested positive. Distress had no effect. The reasons most predicting vaccine hesitancy included safety, potential side effects, believing the risks from COVID-19 were lower than from the vaccine, not feeling at risk for getting COVID-19, and current pregnancy. Rather than rely on providing information about the COVID-19 vaccines to HCWs, strategies that address their concerns are required to promote vaccine acceptance. Contemporary issues of political polarization, misinformation and mistrust are likely to contribute to the concerns HCWs have about the COVID-19 vaccines.
Suggested Citation
Timothy R. Elliott & Paul B. Perrin & Mark B. Powers & Katelin S. Jacobi & Ann Marie Warren, 2022.
"Predictors of Vaccine Hesitancy among Health Care Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic,"
IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-9, June.
Handle:
RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:12:p:7123-:d:835770
Download full text from publisher
Corrections
All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:12:p:7123-:d:835770. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through
the various RePEc services.