An Investigation of Associations Between Race, Ethnicity, and Past Experiences of Discrimination with Medical Mistrust and COVID-19 Protective Strategies

Abstract

This study investigates the associations between three forms of discrimination, race and ethnicity, general medical mistrust, health-specific COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, and adherence to COVID-19 protective behaviors. Participants ( n = 963) completed an online survey during May 2020, when stay-at-home orders and other government mandates were implemented in many states. Results indicate that everyday discrimination and healthcare discrimination were associated with significantly higher general medical mistrust, and healthcare discrimination and structural discrimination were associated with higher endorsement of health-specific COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs. Higher endorsement of health-specific COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, but not general medical mistrust, was associated with significantly lower engagement in health-specific COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs. This study helps to contextualize racial health disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic and the widespread impact of everyday, structural, and healthcare discrimination in society. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40615-021-01080-x.

An Epidemiologic Analysis of Associations between County-Level Per Capita Income, Unemployment Rate, and COVID-19 Vaccination Rates in the United States

“…We found that increases in per capita income were associated with decreases in COVID-19 vaccination rates in counties with higher proportions of BIPOC adults. It is plausible that race-based political ideology, unequal health care resource distribution, lack of culture-sensitive public health policies, medical distrust, and contemporary healthcare discrimination may contribute to this negative association between per capita income and COVID-19 vaccination rates in counties with higher proportions of BIPOC adults [19,20,[31][32][33][34]. More studies are needed to explore reasons why COVID-19 vaccination rates in counties with higher proportions of BIPOC adults decrease with increasing per capita income.…”

COVID-19 and Asian Americans: Reinforcing the Role of Community-Based Organizations in Providing Culturally and Linguistically Centered Care

“…The deliberate inclusion of community advisory boards such as the NAC ensures the effectiveness of evidence-based interventions in public health emergencies and the increased uptake of COVID-19 testing and vaccination among underresourced and historically marginalized communities who may be distrustful of government and health institutions, 23 and vulnerable to COVID-19 misinformation. 24 …”

COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates for Transplant Patients: Caring for Patients Versus Turning Them Away

“…J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f 6 Sustained investment in effective messaging, transparency, time to process, and workforce development are critical to successfully vaccinating transplant patients. For example, although in the early phases of the pandemic vaccine uptake among persons identifying as Black or Latinx had lagged behind White Americans (largely owing to structural inequalities), 14,15 improved access, time, and outreach by trusted sources have narrowed disparities significantly. Some studies suggest that Black Americans are twice as likely to trust a COVID information when care is race-concordant.…”