Prevalence of Previous COVID-19 Infection, COVID-19 Vaccination Receipt, and Intent to Vaccinate Among the US Workforce

Abstract

Objective: As COVID-19 vaccines become more accessible to all people in the United States, more employees are returning to the workforce or switching to in-person work. However, limited information is available on vaccination coverage and intent among the US workforce. Methods: We used data from the US Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, fielded during April 14–May 24, 2021 (N = 218 787), to examine the prevalence of previous COVID-19 infection, vaccination receipt, and intent to vaccinate by essential worker status and employment type. In addition, we analyzed factors associated with vaccination receipt and reasons for not getting vaccinated. Results: More than 15% of the US workforce had a previous diagnosis of COVID-19, and 73.6% received ≥1 dose of COVID-19 vaccine; however, 12.4% reported that they probably will not or definitely will not get vaccinated. Vaccination coverage (range, 63.8%-78.3%) was lowest and non-intent to get vaccinated (12.9%-21.7%) was highest among self-employed adults across all essential and nonessential worker groups. Factors associated with receipt of vaccination were age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, educational attainment, annual household income, health insurance status, and previous COVID-19 diagnosis. The main reasons for not getting vaccinated were concerns about possible side effects and waiting and seeing if the vaccine is safe. Conclusion: Identifying and addressing disparities in COVID-19 vaccination coverage in the US workforce can protect groups with low vaccine coverage and increase understanding of reasons for vaccine hesitancy. Educating employees about the vaccine and its potential side effects, promoting a culture of health and safety in the workplace, and building social norms around vaccination can help create a safe work environment for all employees and their families.

COVID-19 vaccination: lower intention and coverage among entrepreneurs compared to employees

“…(2022) and Nguyen et al. (2022a, b), there is a robust difference in COVID-19 vaccination willingness between entrepreneurs and employees, which has now been confirmed in five datasets. Entrepreneurs consistently report lower COVID-19 vaccination intention and COVID-19 vaccination status than employees.…”

“…To our initial surprise, two earlier studies showed that COVID-19 vaccination willingness was lower among self-employed individuals than among employees in a Belgian and US sample (Nguyen et al. , 2022a, b; Valckx et al. , 2022).…”

“…Moreover, Nguyen et al. (2022a, b) find that the self-employed had the lowest vaccination coverage across all working groups in a US sample. These studies do not provide further insights into the underlying causes of this difference.…”

“…For example, Nguyen et al. (2022a, b) illustrated that a higher proportion of the self-employed reported that they did not trust the government or the vaccine as reasons for not getting vaccinated compared to those in other working categories. As many businesses were negatively impacted by the regulations implemented by the government, this may have negatively affected entrepreneurs' trust in government, creating low willingness to follow governmental advice on vaccinations.…”

“…(2022) focus on individual factors associated with vaccination willingness, while Nguyen et al. (2022a, b) focus on the entire US workforce and how employment type connects to vaccination willingness. Our study is the first to address whether entrepreneurs report lower vaccination willingness than employees, controlling for a range of factors, while at the same time exploring whether these factors could explain a lower willingness to receive the vaccine.…”