Understanding COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Among K-12 Staff, Parents, and Students: District of Columbia, February to April, 2022.
Miguella Mark-Carew, André van Zyl, Kathleen M Tatti and 10 others
PMID 37602945WHAT IT FOUND
Safety concerns and lack of trust drove vaccine hesitancy among parents and staff, not access barriers.
Health professionals were the most trusted information source for Black and Hispanic participants. Addressing safety worries directly may improve uptake more than logistical fixes.
Key findings
01Concerns about vaccine safety were the primary reason for not being fully vaccinated, followed by lack of trust and logistical barriers.
02Health professionals were the most trusted source of COVID-19 information for NH Black and Hispanic participants, whereas NH White participants trusted the federal government more.
03Most participants reported that it was easy to get the vaccine, suggesting hesitancy was driven by confidence and complacency rather than convenience.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Low overall response rate of 25.8% due to inaccurate phone numbers and initial restrictive inclusion criteria. Cross-sectional design prevents causal inferences about the reasons for hesitancy. Socioeconomic data such as income and education were not collected, limiting analysis of their association with hesitancy. Findings are specific to DC schools and may not be generalizable to the rest of the United States. The 5-11 age cohort was censored soon after eligibility, limiting time-to-event analysis for this group.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that logistical barriers are the primary driver of vaccine hesitancy in this population. The data show that safety concerns and lack of trust were the main reasons for non-vaccination, while most participants reported easy access to vaccines.