Factors associated with mothers’ hesitancy to receive a COVID-19 vaccine

Abstract

Vaccine hesitancy can impact maternal and child vaccination rates. We examined factors associated with mothers’ hesitancy to receive a COVID-19 vaccine using data from an online survey conducted from mid-February to mid-March 2021. Among unvaccinated participants (N = 203), 28% reported that they would probably not or definitely not get a COVID-19 vaccine. Mothers with high school/GED/trade/technical education (38% hesitant, aOR = 4.0, 95% CI: 1.2–13.2), Associate’s degree (43%, aOR = 6.8, 95% CI: 2.4–19.5), and Bachelor’s degree (30%, aOR = 3.1, 95% CI: 1.1–8.4) were more likely to report vaccine hesitancy compared to mothers with a graduate degree (19%). Non-Hispanic Black mothers (40% hesitant, aOR = 2.8, 95% CI: 1.0–7.6) were more likely to be vaccine hesitant compared to non-Hispanic white mothers (19%). Mothers with low pandemic-related anxiety were more likely to report vaccine hesitancy than mothers with high pandemic-related anxiety (56% vs 23% hesitant; aOR = 4.8, 95% CI: 1.7–14.1). Research is needed to understand informational, emotional, and attitudinal factors contributing to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among mothers to develop and test effective public health messaging to increase vaccination rates.

Broad perspectives in understanding vaccine hesitancy and vaccine confidence: an introduction to the special issue

“…Perceptions of one’s employer keeping employees safe from COVID-19 was associated with increased vaccine hesitancy, a finding that illustrates the importance of understanding perceptions of workplace conditions and context. In a secondary analysis of survey data on social media misinformation among mothers, Waring et al ( 2023 ) examined COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among mothers, who tend to be the primary decision-makers about vaccination for children. They report that Black mothers were more vaccine hesitant compared to White mothers and that education levels were associated with hesitancy.…”

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy during the Perinatal Period: Understanding Psychological and Cultural Factors to Improve Care and Address Racial/Ethnic Health Inequities

“…Intervention acceptability and efficacy among marginalized and understudied populations can be improved by using community-engaged, patient-centered research that includes key stakeholders in health care (Collins et al, 2018;Gonzalez et al, 2021). Across health care consumers and providers, there is evidence of trends in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy that are associated with sociodemographic characteristics (Momplaisir et al, 2021;Waring et al, 2022). Traditional psychology designs, while controlling for sample characteristics, may be enhanced by the input of community members, to fine tune the characteristics that are accounted for in the study design.…”

Mothers' intentions to vaccinate their children for COVID-19

“…Indeed, parents and teenagers in the U.S from higher-income households were more likely to be vaccinated (73% for income above $100,000/year) than those from lower-income households (38% for income below $50,000/year) [9] . In a sample of U.S. mothers who were surveyed in February–March 2021, those with less than a graduate degree reported higher COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (for vaccinating themselves) compared to mothers with graduate degrees [10] . Additionally, non-Hispanic Black mothers were more likely to be hesitant toward the vaccine compared to non-Hispanic White mothers [10] .…”

“…In a sample of U.S. mothers who were surveyed in February–March 2021, those with less than a graduate degree reported higher COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (for vaccinating themselves) compared to mothers with graduate degrees [10] . Additionally, non-Hispanic Black mothers were more likely to be hesitant toward the vaccine compared to non-Hispanic White mothers [10] . Regarding vaccinating their children, caregivers across six countries demonstrated a greater willingness to vaccinate older children for COVID-19 [11] .…”

“…These stressors of the pandemic were positively related to anxiety and depression symptomology in a sample of U.S. mothers [18] . In addition, pandemic anxiety (fear of contracting or transmitting COVID-19) influences vaccine attitudes: mothers with low pandemic anxiety were 4.8 times more likely to report vaccine hesitancy than mothers with high pandemic anxiety [10] . Hence, while the perceived threat of COVID-19 has been measured in previous work, we sought to examine if daily COVID-19 related stress would also have an impact on mothers' intent to vaccinate their children.…”