Rural–Urban Differences in Vaccination and Hesitancy Rates and Trust

US Covid-19 Trends and Impact Survey on a Social Media Platform, May 2021–April 2022

Bibliographic Data

ID11035264
AuthorsSada Soorapanth (0000-0002-0644-9082, Sada Soorapanth and Rex Cheung are with the Department of Decision Sciences, Lam Family College of Business, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA. Xinzhi Zhang and George A. Mensah are with the Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. Ali H. Mokdad is with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and the Department of Health Metrics Sciences, School of Medicine, University of...), Rex Cheung (Sada Soorapanth and Rex Cheung are with the Department of Decision Sciences, Lam Family College of Business, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA. Xinzhi Zhang and George A. Mensah are with the Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. Ali H. Mokdad is with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and the Department of Health Metrics Sciences, School of Medicine, University of...), Xinzhi Zhang (0000-0003-3479-9327, Sada Soorapanth and Rex Cheung are with the Department of Decision Sciences, Lam Family College of Business, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA. Xinzhi Zhang and George A. Mensah are with the Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. Ali H. Mokdad is with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and the Department of Health Metrics Sciences, School of Medicine, University of...), Ali H Mokdad (0000-0002-4994-3339, Sada Soorapanth and Rex Cheung are with the Department of Decision Sciences, Lam Family College of Business, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA. Xinzhi Zhang and George A. Mensah are with the Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. Ali H. Mokdad is with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and the Department of Health Metrics Sciences, School of Medicine, University of...), George A Mensah (0000-0002-0387-5326, Sada Soorapanth and Rex Cheung are with the Department of Decision Sciences, Lam Family College of Business, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA. Xinzhi Zhang and George A. Mensah are with the Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. Ali H. Mokdad is with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and the Department of Health Metrics Sciences, School of Medicine, University of...)
Year2023
Volume113
Issue6
Pages680-688
Publication date2023-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0090-0036 • E-ISSN: 1541-0048
PublisherAmerican Public Health Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2105/ajph.2023.307274
PMID37053528
OpenAlexW4365459930
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited23

Objectives. To analyze rural–urban differences in COVID-19 vaccination uptake, hesitancy, and trust in information sources in the United States. Methods. We used data from a large survey of Facebook users. We computed the vaccination, hesitancy, and decline rates and the trust proportions among individuals hesitant toward COVID-19 information sources for rural and urban regions in each state from May 2021 to April 2022. Results. In 48 states with adequate data, on average, two thirds of states showed statistically significant differences in monthly vaccination rates between rural and urban regions, with rural regions having a lower vaccination rate at all times. Far fewer states showed statistically significant differences when comparing monthly hesitancy and decline rates for urban versus rural regions. Doctors and health professionals received the highest level of trust. Friends and family were also among the most trusted sources in rural areas where the vaccination uptake was low. Conclusions. Rural–urban difference in hesitancy rates among those still unvaccinated was much smaller than the rural–urban difference in vaccination rates, suggesting that access to vaccines may be another contributor to the lower vaccination rates in rural areas. (Am J Public Health. 2023;113(6):680–688. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307274 )

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) · Environmental health · Geography · Rural area · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Vaccination · Demography · Medicine · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Social Media in Health Education · Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy · Virology

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