COVID‐19 vaccination willingness and uptake among rural Black/African American, Latino, and White adults

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to assess differences in COVID‐19 vaccine willingness and uptake between rural and nonrural adults, and within rural racial‐ethnic groups.MethodsWe utilized data from the COVID‐19's Unequal Racial Burden online survey, which included 1,500 Black/African American, Latino, and White rural adults (n = 500 each). Baseline (12/2020‐2/2021) and 6‐month follow‐up (8/2021‐9/2021) surveys were administered. A cohort of nonrural Black/African American, Latino, and White adults (n = 2,277) was created to compare differences between rural and nonrural communities. Multinomial logistic regression was used to assess associations between rurality, race‐ethnicity, and vaccine willingness and uptake.FindingsAt baseline, only 24.9% of rural adults were extremely willing to be vaccinated and 28.4% were not at all willing. Rural White adults were least willing to be vaccinated, compared to nonrural White adults (extremely willing: aOR = 0.44, 95% CI = 0.30‐0.64). At follow‐up, 69.3% of rural adults were vaccinated; however, only 25.3% of rural adults who reported being unwilling to vaccinate were vaccinated at follow‐up, compared to 95.6% of adults who were extremely willing to be vaccinated and 76.3% who were unsure. Among those unwilling to vaccinate at follow‐up, almost half reported distrust in the government (52.3%) and drug companies (46.2%); 80% reported that nothing would change their minds regarding vaccination.ConclusionsBy August 2021, almost 70% of rural adults were vaccinated. However, distrust and misinformation were prevalent among those unwilling to vaccinate at follow‐up. To continue to effectively combat COVID‐19 in rural communities, we need to address misinformation to increase COVID‐19 vaccination rates.

COVID-19 vaccination willingness and uptake among low-income Black/African American, Latino, and White adults living in the U.S

“…These results mirror previously published findings in our rural adult cohort ( Strassle et al, 2023 ). Similarly to low-income White adults, rural White adults were less willing to be vaccinated and less likely to be vaccinated compared to non-rural White adults.…”

Disparities in telehealth access, not willingness to use services, likely explain rural telehealth disparities

“…Information on the development of the CURB survey for the main sample 29,30 and the rural sample 31 has been detailed elsewhere. CURB participants were recruited from the YouGov proprietary, opt-in survey panel comprised of over 1.8 million US residents recruited through a variety of methods (eg, telephone-to-Web recruitment, mail-to-Web recruitment) to help ensure diversity.…”

Social and political correlates of adult and dependent-child COVID-19 vaccination behavior in rural America

“…However, the link between these aggregate associations and individual factors remains underexplored. In one of the only extant studies on individual-level rural vaccine behavior, to our knowledge, Strassle et al (2023) found that over 25 % of rural adults who were initially extremely against vaccination ultimately received the vaccine, and that there was no significant variation in actual vaccine behavior across racial groups. Our study extends the work of Strassle et al (2023) by using a different, yet comparable dataset, focusing on factors beyond race and ethnicity, and examining vaccine behavior as it relates to dependent children.…”