Attitudes toward vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic: results from HBCU students

Purpose To investigate the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy among black college students and to explain students’ reasoning behind their vaccine hesitancy. Design online survey completed in spring and summer of 2021. Students were recruited via email. Setting HBCU campus, North Carolina, USA. Subjects 397 currently enrolled students. Measures An original survey instrument was developed which included questions on vaccination status and plans to get vaccinated, perceived threat from the coronavirus (adopted from PEW research) exercise behaviors and demographics. Respondents were also given the chance to respond to an open-ended question about their feelings about the vaccine. Analysis Binary Logistic Regression predicting likelihood that respondent is vaccine hesitant. Results Confidence in the safety of the vaccine was the strongest predictor of vaccine hesitancy. At the time of the survey only 25% of students had received at least one dose of the vaccine. 37% of the students did not plan on ever getting vaccinated. Other considerations (living with a vulnerable person or concerns about their own vulnerability to COVID) were not associated with getting vaccinated. Students were particularly concerned about side effects from the vaccine. Conclusion Racial disparities in COVID-19 infections, deaths, and vaccinations serve as a stark reminder of the urgent need to better understand the factors that could lead to mitigation of the virus. Fear about the safety of the vaccine among minority populations in particular must be unpacked in order to address valid concerns and overcome hesitancy. This study provides key insights into the contours of those fears.