Abstract
The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the difficulty of the US public health system to respond effectively to vulnerable subpopulations, causing disproportionate rates of morbidity and mortality. New York Haredi-Orthodox Jewish communities represent a group that have been heavily impacted by Covid-19. Little research has examined their experience or perceptions toward Covid-19 and vaccines. We conducted a cross-sectional, observational study to explore the experience of Covid-19 among Haredim. Paper surveys were self-administered between December 2020 and January 2021 in Haredi neighborhood pediatricians’ offices in Brooklyn, New York. Of 102 respondents, 43% reported either a positive SARS-CoV-2 viral or antibody test. Participants trusted their physicians, Orthodox medical organizations, and rabbinic leaders for medical information. Knowledge of Covid-19 transmission and risk was good (69% answered ≥ 4/6 questions correctly). Only 12% of respondents would accept a Covid-19 vaccine, 41% were undecided and 47% were strongly hesitant. Independent predictors of strong vaccine hesitancy included believing natural infection to be better than vaccination for developing immunity (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 4.28; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.23-14.86), agreement that prior infection provides a path toward resuming communal life (aOR 4.10; 95% CI 1.22-13.77), and pandemic-related loss of trust in physicians (aOR 5.01; 95% CI 1.05-23.96). The primary disseminators of health information for self-protective religious communities should be stakeholders who understand these groups’ unique health needs. In communities with significant Covid-19 experience, vaccination messaging may need to be tailored toward protecting infection-naïve individuals and boosting natural immunity against emerging variants.
Keywords: COVID-19; Orthodox Jewish; Survey; Vaccine hesitancy.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, survey, Vaccine hesitancy, Orthodox Jewish, 【초록키워드】 public health, Vaccine, COVID-19 vaccine, vaccination, pandemic, Immunity, Vaccines, cross-sectional, COVID-19 pandemic, Infection, risk, Transmission, Vaccine hesitancy, variants, observational study, Health, morbidity, Research, Community, Physicians, morbidity and mortality, Trust, Antibody test, health information, predictor, group, information, natural infection, New York, natural immunity, independent predictors, adjusted odds ratio, 95% CI, 95% confidence interval, paper, naïve individuals, individual, difficulty, participant, organizations, path, physician, positive, subpopulations, SARS-CoV-2 viral, Brooklyn, examined, reported, conducted, provide, question, unique, respond, impacted, 【제목키워드】 Attitude,