Seasonal and 2009 Pandemic H1N1 Vaccine Acceptance as a Predictor for COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance

The emergence of COVID-19 also began an unprecedented production and distribution of several novel COVID-19 vaccines to combat the pandemic. Unfortunately, with the history of vaccine hesitancy in the United States and abroad, concern remains regarding the ability to vaccinate enough of the population to achieve herd immunity. In this study, 101 adults were surveyed about their vaccine experience in the waiting room of their visit to a Med-Peds clinic in Albany County, NY, to gauge interest in the upcoming rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. Questions included their opinions on seasonal influenza vaccines, the 2009 H1N1 vaccine, and the COVID-19 vaccine. The results of our survey are consistent with previous studies where gaps in acceptance were notable in black populations, lower education, and individuals with public health insurance. Furthermore, 92.9% of respondents who denied getting the 2009 H1N1 pandemic vaccine also did not plan to receive the COVID-19 vaccine (p<0.05), therefore a strong correlation was found between receipt of the previous 2009 H1N1 pandemic vaccine and the COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. The qualitative results of our study revealed that COVID-19 precautions deterred people from receiving the seasonal influenza vaccine, and a lack of information on the COVID-19 vaccine caused hesitancy to receive the vaccine on behalf of patients.