Hadii Mamudu, professor in the East Tennessee State University College of Public Health Department of Health Services Management and Policy and director of the ETSU Center for Cardiovascular Risk Research, is lead author of an article in The American Journal of Managed Care. The article is titled, “COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and Health Literacy in US Southern States.”
Co-authors include Manik Ahuja, faculty member in the Department of Health Services Management and Policy as well as Esther Adeniran, Adekunle Oke, Bridget Hamilton, KariLynn Dowling-McClay, Rebecca Fletcher, David Stewart, JoAnne Collins, Janet Keener, Timir Paul and Florence Weierbach.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 remains a public health crisis, accounting for more than 100 million confirmed cases with more than 1,121,800 deaths in the United States as of April 26, 2023. Despite widespread vaccination efforts by the US government and public health leadership, the rate of vaccine uptake is still far from desirable, as researchers estimate that about 70% to 85% of the country will need to be immunized before SARS-CoV-2 can be fully contained. The Southern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia) have relatively lower rates of full vaccination (primary series) compared with other states.
Using a cross-sectional web-based survey, the researchers assessed the association between health literacy and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in a US Southern population. They reported that personal perception of threat was associated with reduced vaccine hesitancy. They found vaccine hesitancy in Southern states is complex and extends beyond health literacy and transcends many sociodemographic differences. They concluded effective public health communication should be unambiguous about negative externalities of COVID-19 beyond individual threats. Their conclusion indicates a critical need for place-based or contextual research on why vaccine hesitancy in the region transcends most sociodemographic differences.