TY - JOUR
T1 - Unique Predictors of Intended Uptake of a COVID-19 Vaccine in Adults Living in a Rural College Town in the United States
AU - Data4 Action Research Group
AU - Lennon, Robert P.
AU - Small, Meg L.
AU - Smith, Rachel A.
AU - Van Scoy, Lauren J.
AU - Myrick, Jessica G.
AU - Martin, Molly A.
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported the Office of the Provost and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, and the Social Science Research Institutes at the Pennsylvania State University.
Funding Information:
The authors thank the members of the D4A Action Research Group: Dee Bagshaw, Clinical & Translational Science Institute, Nita Bharti, Dept. of Biology and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Cyndi Flanagan, Clinical Research Center, Matthew Ferrari, Dept. of Biology & Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Thomas Gates, Social Science Research Institute, Margeaux Gray, Dept. of Biobehavioral Health, Suresh Kuchipudi, Animal Diagnostic Lab, Vivek Kapur, Dept. of Animal Science and the Huck Institutes of Life Sciences, Stephanie Lanza, Dept. of Biobehavioral Health and the Prevention Research Center, James Marden, Dept. of Biology & Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Susan McHale, Dept. of Human Development and Family Studies and the Social Science Research Institute, Glenda Palmer, Social Science Research Institute, Andrew Read, Depts. of Biology and Entomology, and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Connie Rogers, Dept. of Nutritional Sciences and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Meg Small, Prevention Research Center, Rachel Smith, Dept. of Communication Arts and Sciences and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Charima Young, The Penn State Office of Government and Community Relations. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported the Office of the Provost and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, and the Social Science Research Institutes at the Pennsylvania State University.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - Purpose: To explore public confidence in a COVID-19 vaccine. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: A rural college town in central Pennsylvania. Subjects: Adult residents without minor children. Measures: The primary outcome was COVID-19 vaccination intention. Secondary measures included vaccination attitudes, norms, efficacy, past behavior, trust in the vaccination process, and sociodemographic variables of education, financial standing, political viewpoint, and religiosity. Analysis: Descriptive statistics were used to describe quantitative data. Multivariate ordinal regression was used to model predictors of vaccine intention. Results: Of 950 respondents, 55% were “very likely” and 20% “somewhat likely” to take a coronavirus vaccine, even though 70% had taken the flu vaccine since September 2019. The strongest predictors of vaccine acceptance were trust in the system evaluating vaccines and perceptions of local COVID-19 vaccination norms. The strongest predictors of negative vaccine intentions were worries about unknown side-effects and positive attitudes toward natural infection. Sociodemographic factors, political views, and religiosity did not predict vaccine intentions. Conclusion: Fewer adults intend to take a coronavirus vaccine than currently take the flu vaccine. Traditional sociodemographic factors may not be effective predictors of COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Although based on a small sample, the study adds to our limited understanding of COVID-19-specific vaccine confidence among some rural Americans and suggests that traditional public health vaccination campaigns based on sociodemographic characteristics may not be effective.
AB - Purpose: To explore public confidence in a COVID-19 vaccine. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: A rural college town in central Pennsylvania. Subjects: Adult residents without minor children. Measures: The primary outcome was COVID-19 vaccination intention. Secondary measures included vaccination attitudes, norms, efficacy, past behavior, trust in the vaccination process, and sociodemographic variables of education, financial standing, political viewpoint, and religiosity. Analysis: Descriptive statistics were used to describe quantitative data. Multivariate ordinal regression was used to model predictors of vaccine intention. Results: Of 950 respondents, 55% were “very likely” and 20% “somewhat likely” to take a coronavirus vaccine, even though 70% had taken the flu vaccine since September 2019. The strongest predictors of vaccine acceptance were trust in the system evaluating vaccines and perceptions of local COVID-19 vaccination norms. The strongest predictors of negative vaccine intentions were worries about unknown side-effects and positive attitudes toward natural infection. Sociodemographic factors, political views, and religiosity did not predict vaccine intentions. Conclusion: Fewer adults intend to take a coronavirus vaccine than currently take the flu vaccine. Traditional sociodemographic factors may not be effective predictors of COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Although based on a small sample, the study adds to our limited understanding of COVID-19-specific vaccine confidence among some rural Americans and suggests that traditional public health vaccination campaigns based on sociodemographic characteristics may not be effective.
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U2 - 10.1177/08901171211026132
DO - 10.1177/08901171211026132
M3 - Article
C2 - 34269077
AN - SCOPUS:85110329228
SN - 0890-1171
VL - 36
SP - 180
EP - 184
JO - American Journal of Health Promotion
JF - American Journal of Health Promotion
IS - 1
ER -