Perceptions of the Vaccinated and Unvaccinated to Inform Translation to Health and Public Health Practice

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES/GOALS Translating the science of vaccines to health and public health practice requires understanding how vaccine risks and benefits are understood and applying that knowledge to community translation. During the pandemic the lack of this knowledge became apparent. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION Through the PACER community engagement special interest group of the ACTS, the University of Florida(UF)/Florida State University and 5 other CTSIs community engagement programs received Center for Disease Control and Prevention funding for the Program to Alleviate National Disparities in Ethnic and Minority Immunizations in the Community (PANDEMIC) to translate vaccinations into the community. At UF, HealthStreet's Community Health Workers, CTSI Mobile Health Vehicle nurses, and Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences extension agents collaborated to engage adults throughout the North and Central part of the state on their vaccine status and perceptions and to offer them vaccines. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Through UF, 4,587 people have been interviewed in community settings using the Survey of Perceptions;25% (1,125) had not received any COVID-19 vaccine. Among differences in perceptions, those vaccinated versus unvaccinated perceived people to be getting vaccines because they cut down on disease spread (28.9% vs. 15.2%), and perceived people NOT to be getting vaccinated because of misinformation/ignorance (27.1% vs. 11.0%) and political beliefs (16.3% vs. 6.7%). Both vaccinated and not perceived lack of trust as a reason to not get vaccinated (41.3% vs 46.4%). When asked what people were doing instead of vaccination, those vaccinated versus unvaccinated responded that people were doing nothing/very little much more often (40.6% vs. 21.8%) but were less likely to say 'trying to stay healthy' (9.1% vs. 18.9%). DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The science of translating from bench through clinical trials and to common health and public health practice requires knowledge of reasons for successful adoption. This survey adds to knowledge of perceptions towards vaccines that inhibit translation and biases toward the vaccine-hesitant.