An increase in willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 in the US between October 2020 and February 2021: longitudinal evidence from the Understanding America Study

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Abstract

Background

Recent evidence suggests that willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 has been declining throughout the pandemic and is low among ethnic minority groups.

Methods

Observational study using a nationally representative longitudinal sample (N =7,840) from the Understanding America Study (UAS). Changes in the percentage of respondents willing to vaccinate, undecided, or intending to refuse a COVID-19 vaccine were examined over 20 survey waves from April 1 2020 to February 15 2021.

Results

After a sharp decline in willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 between April and October 2020 (from 74.0% to 52.7%), willingness to vaccinate increased by 8.1% ( p <.001) to 60.8% between October 2020 and February 2021. A significant increase in willingness to vaccinate was observed across all demographic groups examined and Black (15.6% increase) and Hispanic participants (12.1% increase) showed particularly large changes.

Conclusions

Willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 increased in the US from October 2020 to February 2021.

Funding statement

N/A

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  1. SciScore for 10.1101/2021.03.04.21252918: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementIRB: The UAS was approved by the University of Southern California human subjects committee internal review board (IRB) and informed consent was obtained from all subjects. 2.2. Measures: In each wave of the survey participants were asked how likely they were to get vaccinated against the coronavirus once a vaccine is available.
    Consent: The UAS was approved by the University of Southern California human subjects committee internal review board (IRB) and informed consent was obtained from all subjects. 2.2. Measures: In each wave of the survey participants were asked how likely they were to get vaccinated against the coronavirus once a vaccine is available.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variableTrends in willingness to vaccinate were examined across a set of demographic subgroups based on participant age (18-39, 40-59, ≥60 years), sex (male, female), race/ethnicity (White, Hispanic, Black, Other race/ethnicity), college degree (vs. none), household income (≤$50,00, ≥$50,000 per annum), and chronic health conditions (present vs not present).

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.


    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).


    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.


    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.


    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.


    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

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