COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in diverse groups in the UK — is the driver economic or cultural in student populations
File(s)
Published version
OA Location
Author(s)
Drobniewski, Francis
Kusuma, Dian
Broda, Agnieszka
Castro-Sánchez, Enrique
Ahmad, Raheelah
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Studies have identified a greater reluctance for members of the Black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities to be vaccinated against COVID-19 despite a higher probability of greater harm from COVID-19. We conducted an anonymised questionnaire-based study of students (recruiting primarily before first reports of embolic events) at two London universities to identify whether economic or educational levels were primarily responsible for this reluctance: a postgraduate core group (PGCC) n = 860, and a pilot study of undergraduate medical and nursing students (n = 103). Asian and Black students were 2.0 and 3.2 times (PGCC) less likely to accept the COVID vaccine than White British students. Similar findings were noted in the pilot study students. As the students were studying for Master’s or PhD degrees and voluntarily paying high fees, educational and economic reasons were unlikely to be the underlying cause, and wider cultural reservations were more likely. Politicians exerted a strong negative influence, suggesting that campaigns should omit politicians.
Date Issued
2022-03-24
Date Acceptance
2022-03-18
Citation
Vaccines, 2022, 10 (4), pp.501-501
ISSN
2076-393X
Publisher
MDPI AG
Start Page
501
End Page
501
Journal / Book Title
Vaccines
Volume
10
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© 2022 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/10/4/501
Publication Status
Published online
Date Publish Online
2022-03-24