ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: We sought to examine reasons for vaccine hesitancy among online communities of US-based Black and Latinx communities to understand the role of historical racism, present-day structural racism, medical mistrust and individual concerns about vaccine safety and efficacy. DESIGN: A qualitative study using narrative and interpretive phenomenological analysis of online bulletin board focus groups. SETTING: Bulletin boards with a focus-group-like setting in an online, private, chat-room-like environment. PARTICIPANTS: Self-described vaccine hesitant participants from US-based Black (30) and Latinx (30) communities designed to reflect various axes of diversity within these respective communities in the US context. RESULTS: Bulletin board discussions covered a range of topics related to COVID-19 vaccination. COVID-19 vaccine hesitant participants expressed fears about vaccine safety and doubts about vaccine efficacy. Elements of structural racism were cited in both groups as affecting populations but not playing a role in individual vaccine decisions. Historical racism was infrequently cited as a reason for vaccine hesitancy. Individualised fears and doubts about COVID-19 (short-term and long-term) safety and efficacy dominated these bulletin board discussions. Community benefits of vaccination were not commonly raised among participants. CONCLUSIONS: While this suggests that addressing individually focused fear and doubts are central to overcoming COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Black and Latinx groups, addressing the effects of present-day structural racism through a focus on community protection may also be important.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 Vaccines , COVID-19 , Patient Safety , Systemic Racism , Vaccination Hesitancy , Humans , COVID-19/prevention & control , COVID-19/psychology , COVID-19 Vaccines/therapeutic use , Emotions , Hispanic or Latino/psychology , Trust , Vaccination/psychology , Vaccination Hesitancy/ethnology , Vaccination Hesitancy/psychology , Qualitative Research , United States , Internet , Vaccine Efficacy , Systemic Racism/ethnology , Systemic Racism/psychology , Black or African American/psychologyABSTRACT
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.757283.].
ABSTRACT
Reluctance to accept vaccination against COVID-19 poses a significant public health risk and is known to be a multi-determined phenomenon. We conducted online focus groups, or "bulletin boards," in order to probe the nature of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and its implications. Participants were 94 individuals from three distinct U.S. geographical areas and represented a range of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Six themes emerged from the 3 day-long bulletin boards: the most trusted source of health information sought is the personal physician; information about health is nevertheless obtained from a wide variety of sources; stories about adverse side effects are especially "sticky"; government health institutions like CDC and FDA are not trusted; most respondents engaged in individualistic reasoning; and there is a wide spectrum of attitudes toward vaccination.
