Keywords
vaccine hesitancy
vaccine knowledge
Abstract
Background: After nearly four years of living in a pandemic due to the Corona virus, and almost three years after developing multiple vaccines, vaccination rates remain suboptimal, thereby preventing our society from reaching herd immunity.
Purpose: Extant literature on vaccine hesitancy led us to hypothesize that specific socio/political variables may be contributing to low vaccination rates, particularly in South Carolina.
Method: By use of Qualtrics surveys, we collected data from people across all counties in South Carolina regarding vaccine status, plans to vaccinate, and a host of demographics.
Results: Findings revealed that those less likely to be vaccinated against COVID-19 tended to be younger, female, republican. Interestingly, COVID-19 knowledge did not appear to differ between vaccination status groups, although COVID-19 vaccine and general vaccine knowledge did differ.
Conclusions: While understanding of COVID-19 was relatively similar across groups, targeted and tailored interventions aimed at enhancing the public’s general and COVID-19-specific vaccine knowledge may aid efforts to reach herd immunity.
Keywords: COVID-19, vaccine hesitancy, vaccine knowledge
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