IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/125725.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Discrimination backfires? Minority ethnic disparities in vaccine hesitancy

Author

Listed:
  • Costa-Font, Joan
  • Docrat, Fatima

Abstract

A number of minority ethnic groups (MEGs) exhibited persistent reluctance to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. This paper attempts to empirically identify some of the contentious behavioral determinants for vaccine hesitancy (VH) that remain unexplained including the role of risk perceptions, trust in government institutions, and prior experiences of racism and trauma. We draw on unique longitudinal data from a minority-boosted sample that was collected in the United Kingdon (UK). We document robust evidence of MEG disparities in VH, which declined between November 2020 and March 2021. While VH is associated to both historical and current distrust in government, risk beliefs, exposure to racism, and an individuals socio-economic background, these factors do not fully explain MEG disparities. Furthermore, similar patterns of inequality are observed when we examine MEG disparities in healthcare use, suggesting that disparities in VH reflect broader unobservable structural barriers to healthcare access.

Suggested Citation

  • Costa-Font, Joan & Docrat, Fatima, 2024. "Discrimination backfires? Minority ethnic disparities in vaccine hesitancy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 125725, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:125725
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/125725/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joan Costa‐Font & Caroline Rudisill & Sayward Harrison & Luca Salmasi, 2023. "The social value of a SARS‐CoV‐2 vaccine: Willingness to pay estimates from four western countries," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(8), pages 1818-1835, August.
    2. Irene A Doherty & William Pilkington & Laurin Brown & Victoria Billings & Undi Hoffler & Lisa Paulin & K Sean Kimbro & Brittany Baker & Tianduo Zhang & Tracie Locklear & Seronda Robinson & Deepak Kuma, 2021. "COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in underserved communities of North Carolina," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(11), pages 1-14, November.
    3. Adida, Claire & Gottlieb, Jessica & Kramon, Eric & McClendon, Gwyneth, 2017. "Reducing or Reinforcing In-Group Preferences? An Experiment on Information and Ethnic Voting," Quarterly Journal of Political Science, now publishers, vol. 12(4), pages 437-477, December.
    4. repec:nas:journl:v:115:y:2018:p:11215-11220 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Campbell, Catherine & McLean, Carl, 2002. "Ethnic identities, social capital and health inequalities: factors shaping African-Caribbean participation in local community networks in the UK," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 643-657, August.
    6. Armstrong, K. & Ravenell, K.L. & McMurphy, S. & Putt, M., 2007. "Racial/ethnic differences in physician distrust in the United States," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(7), pages 1283-1289.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Patrick Carlin & Brian E. Dixon & Kosali I. Simon & Ryan Sullivan & Coady Wing, 2022. "How Undervalued is the Covid-19 Vaccine? Evidence from Discrete Choice Experiments and VSL Benchmarks," NBER Working Papers 30118, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Joan Costa‐Font & Caroline Rudisill & Sayward Harrison & Luca Salmasi, 2023. "The social value of a SARS‐CoV‐2 vaccine: Willingness to pay estimates from four western countries," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(8), pages 1818-1835, August.
    3. Montesanti, Stephanie Rose & Abelson, Julia & Lavis, John N. & Dunn, James R., 2015. "The value of frameworks as knowledge translation mechanisms to guide community participation practice in Ontario CHCs," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 223-231.
    4. Hout, Wil & Wagner, Natascha & Demena, Binyam A., 2022. "Does accountability enhance service delivery? Assessment of a local scorecard initiative in Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    5. Flores, Lia Q. & Fonseca, Miguel A., 2024. "Do in-group biases lead to overconfidence in performance? Experimental evidence," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    6. Porter, Lauren C. & Kozlowski-Serra, Meghan & Lee, Hedwig, 2021. "Proliferation or adaptation? Differences across race and sex in the relationship between time served in prison and mental health symptoms," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    7. Bisung, Elijah & Elliott, Susan J., 2014. "Toward a social capital based framework for understanding the water-health nexus," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 194-200.
    8. Tritter, Jonathan Quetzal & McCallum, Alison, 2006. "The snakes and ladders of user involvement: Moving beyond Arnstein," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 156-168, April.
    9. Hampshire, Katherine Rebecca & Matthijsse, Mathilde, 2010. "Can arts projects improve young people's wellbeing? A social capital approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(4), pages 708-716, August.
    10. Ellaway, Anne & Macintyre, Sally, 2007. "Is social participation associated with cardiovascular disease risk factors?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(7), pages 1384-1391, April.
    11. Koffman, Jonathan & Morgan, Myfanwy & Edmonds, Polly & Speck, Peter & Higginson, Irene J., 2008. ""I know he controls cancer": The meanings of religion among Black Caribbean and White British patients with advanced cancer," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(5), pages 780-789, September.
    12. Romain Ferrali & Guy Grossman & Horacio Larreguy, 2023. "Can low-cost, scalable, online interventions increase youth informed political participation in electoral authoritarian contexts?," Post-Print hal-04185976, HAL.
    13. Davidson, Ryan D. & Tomlinson, Claire S. & Beck, Connie J. & Bowen, Anne M., 2019. "The revolving door of families in the child welfare system: Risk and protective factors associated with families returning," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 468-479.
    14. Morgan, Myfanwy & Mayblin, Maya & Jones, Roger, 2008. "Ethnicity and registration as a kidney donor: The significance of identity and belonging," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 147-158, January.
    15. Bussolo, Maurizio & Sarma, Nayantara & Torre, Iván, 2023. "The links between COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and non-pharmaceutical interventions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    16. Shiell, Alan & Hawe, Penelope & Kavanagh, Shane, 2020. "Evidence suggests a need to rethink social capital and social capital interventions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    17. Cozzi, Guido & Galli, Silvia, 2022. "Covid-19 Vaccines, Innovation, and Intellectual Property Rights," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1095, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    18. Choi, Jin Young, 2009. "Contextual effects on health care access among immigrants: Lessons from three ethnic communities in Hawaii," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 1261-1271, October.
    19. Dunning, Thad & Grossman, Guy & Humphreys, Macartan & Hyde, Susan D. & McIntosh, Craig & Nellis, Gareth & Adida, Claire L. & Arias, Eric & Bicalho, Clara & Boas, Taylor C. & Buntaine, Mark T. & Chauch, 2019. "Voter information campaigns and political accountability: Cumulative findings from a preregistered meta-analysis of coordinated trials," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 5(7), pages 1-10.
    20. James H. Spencer & Katherine Irwin & Karen N. Umemoto & Orlando Garcia-Santiago & Stephanie T. Nishimura & Earl S. Hishinuma & Soojean Choi-Misailidis, 2009. "Exploring the Hypothesis of Ethnic Practice as Social Capital: Violence Among Asian/Pacific Islander Youth in Hawaii," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 55(6), pages 506-524, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Covid-19; vaccination hesitancy; ethnicity; race; minority ethic group; health care access; coronavirus;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ehl:lserod:125725. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.