Demographic disparities in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among U.S. adults: Analysis of household pulse survey data from Jul 21 to Oct 11 in 2021

Monitoring COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy helps design and implement strategies to increase vaccine uptake. Utilizing the large scale cross-sectional Household Pulse Survey data collected between July 21 and October 11 in 2021, this study aims to construct measures of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and identify demographic disparities among U.S. adults (18y+). Factor analysis identified three factors of vaccine hesitancy: safety concerns (prevalence: 70.1 %). trust issues (53.5 %), and not seen as necessary (33.8 %). Among those who did not show willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccine, females were more likely to have safety concerns (73.7 %) compared to males (66.7 %), but less likely to have trust issues (female: 49.7 %; male: 57.1 %) or not seen as necessary (female: 23.8 %; male 43.4 %). Higher education was associated with higher prevalence of not seen as necessary. Younger adults and Whites had higher prevalence of having trust issues and not seen as necessary compared to their counter parts.