Abstract:

Since the emergence of the COVID -19 Pandemic in 2020, the problem of vaccination hesitancy has illuminated. Today, the vaccination goals of United States for its citizens still lags. In the current study, a closer investigation of the larger public health context regarding vaccination hesitancy was pursued. New COVID - 19 infections are rising. The rise is due to rapidly spreading new variants. Moreover, vaccination hesitancy as a co-variate existed prior to the outbreak of the COVID -19 pandemic in 2020. Vaccination hesitancy has been a growing public health issue for several decades. A very troubling and growing public narrative indicates that citizens’ willingness to get vaccinated is on the decline. Increasingly, parents have objected to vaccination of their new born babies. Consequently, the anti-vax movement continues to have major implications for public health safety in the public institutions (schools, churches, libraries, public markets, etc.). Further, recent studies indicate that the rise in vaccination hesitancy is being influenced by the lack of healthcare access and lack of confidence the healthcare system. The latter observations are comparable to other social determinants such as economic instability, community and social contact, and educational status. Existing research literature indicates that individuals with a higher educational attainment status have a higher life expectancy rate than individuals with a lower educational attainment status. Moreover, the likelihood of individuals with higher educational attainment status tends to have lower levels of vaccination hesitancy even though some studies indicate that vaccination hesitancy is emerging among this group too. Unfortunately, there are systemic factors other than educational level that have contributed to the mistrust of the American healthcare system among African Americans despite educational level differences. Events such as the Tuskegee Experimental study and historical and contemporary denial of quality of health care have fueled scepticism among African Americans regarding vaccinations. Therefore, this phenomenon appears to have a far more negative impact on vaccination rates among African American families and youth in general as compared to other racial/ethnic groups in the U. S. Therefore, primary research questions for this study are: 1) To what extent are there significant differences attributable to historic and contemporary social determinants relative to vaccination hesitancy among under served African American families and youth by education status since the emergence of COVID -19? 2) To what extent are there significant differences attributable to environmental and economic determinants relative to vaccination hesitancy among under served African American families and youth by educational level since the emergence of COVID -19? 3) To what extent are there significant differences due to psycho-social determinants relative to vaccination hesitancy among African American families and youth by education status since the emergence of COVID -19? A multivariate correlational research design was developed for the current study. Random samples of secondary data derived from African American households (N = 3,776) generated from the Household Pulse Survey published by the U. S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) in collaboration with the U. S. Census Bureau. Sub-samples were dis-aggregated for the Northeast, Far West, Midwest, and Southern regions. Data were analyzed using the forward stepwise Multi-Nominal Logistic Regression Analysis method. Major findings indicated that African American families and youth had similar attitudes related to vaccination hesitancy despite their differences in social determinants .

Keywords:

Covid-19, education status, vaccination hesitancy, social determinants of health.