Findings reveal persistence of hesitation in COVID-19 vaccine

According to a daily national survey by Carnegie Mellon University, intake of the COVID-19 vaccine has increased, but the proportion of adults who dislike the vaccine has not changed. Concerns about side effects remain high, especially among women, black adults, and people in good health.

CMU’s Delphi Research Group, which is affiliated with Facebook, has released the latest findings. Analysis shows that vaccine hesitation persists and shows potential tactics to combat it.

A previous study by the CDC found that black and Hispanic adults were least likely to get the flu vaccine each year. Our research suggests that the hesitation of COVID vaccines follows a similar trend. “

Alex Reinhart, Associate Professor, Faculty of Statistical Data Science, CMU, Member of Delphi Research Group

Reinhart was joined by Facebook research scientists Esther Kim Andy Garcia, Sarah LaRocca, and Katherine Morris in this report. Delphi staff, including statistic developer Nat DeFries and research coordinator Wichada La Motte-Kerr, contributed to the development and analysis of the research.

This study tracks daily trends in behavior and attitudes regarding issues related to COVID-19 at the state and county levels. Facebook user surveys are conducted by members of the Delphi Research Group in collaboration with Facebook’s Data for Good program. The new report consists of responses from more than 1.9 million Americans between January 10 and February 27, 2021. According to the latest findings, the proportion of adults who are vaccinated or willing to be vaccinated has increased from 72% to 77. %. This is mainly due to the decrease in unanswered survey questions.Vaccine repellent was relatively stable at 23%

Researchers say vaccine hesitation can be ameliorated by addressing concerns about potential or perceived side effects. Seven out of ten adults who dislike vaccines said they were worried about side effects.

Facebook Health Head Kang-Xing (KX) Jin said: “Public health by understanding the geographic and demographic trends of vaccine avoidance with the help of COVID-19 symptom studies and combining it with public insights from Facebook on how people are talking about vaccines. Authorities can design and deliver customized messaging campaigns that resonate with a specific audience within. States, counties, communities. “

The research team suggests relying on trusted local health professionals to spread the word about vaccine safety and importance. Confidence in local health care workers who dislike vaccines increased significantly in January and February, even though confidence in other sources remained unchanged or diminished.

“Hesitation may reflect distrust of existing medicine, but like taking the flu vaccine, taking the COVID vaccine does not provide unequal access to health care or a convenient location for vaccination. It may also reflect equal availability, “says Reinhardt. “We are investigating this in more detail in a new version of the study that specifically asks about access to the vaccine and the specific reasons why we do not want to receive it.”

Delphi researchers use this data to make predictions of COVID-19 activity at the state and county levels. This will be reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since its inception in April 2020, the COVID-19 Symptom Survey is the largest continuous COVID-19 data collection activity in the country, collecting more than 50,000 responses daily, for a total of more than 18 million responses.

Facebook distributes surveys daily to some of its users as part of its Data for Good program. Facebook does not receive individual survey information from users. CMU conducts surveys from Facebook and manages all survey results. The University of Maryland is also working with Facebook to collect international data on pandemics. This data can also be visualized from the Data for Good maps and dashboards.