Gender, socioeconomic status, and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the US: An intersectionality approach.

ABSTRACT

Previous research on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine hesitancy lacks a gender perspective, and it is unclear whether gender intersects with socioeconomic status to co-produce inequalities in people's intent to take vaccines. The current study draws on intersectionality theory and uses data from the 2021 US Household Pulse Survey (n = 50,359). Both bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses were conducted. The results suggest that American women had a higher vaccine hesitancy rate than men. Gender interacts with socioeconomic status to shape people's vaccine hesitancy in a complex way. Specifically, women living in poverty or currently working were more vaccine-hesitant, while poverty and employment status did not affect men's vaccine hesitancy. However, not having a college education contributed to both women's and men's COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Moreover, women were more worried about the safety of the vaccine, but men's hesitancy tended to be driven by lower perceptions of COVID-19 dangers and belief in conspiratorial claims.