TY - JOUR
T1 - Views about vaccines and how views changed during the COVID-19 pandemic among a national sample of young gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men
AU - Marshall, Daniel
AU - McRee, Annie Laurie
AU - Gower, Amy L.
AU - Reiter, Paul L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - We examined perceptions of vaccines and changes during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. From 2019 to 2021, a national sample of young gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men completed an open-ended survey item about vaccine perceptions. Analyses identified themes and polarity (negative, neutral, or positive) within responses and determined temporal changes across phases of the pandemic (“pre-pandemic,” “pandemic,” “initial vaccine availability,” or “widespread vaccine availability”). Themes included health benefits of vaccines (53.9%), fear of shots (23.7%), COVID-19 (10.3%), vaccines being safe (5.6%), and vaccine hesitancy/misinformation (5.5%). Temporal changes existed for multiple themes (p <.05). Overall, 53.0% of responses were positive, 31.2% were negative, and 15.8% were neutral. Compared to the pre-pandemic phase, polarity was less positive for the widespread vaccine availability phase (odds ratio = 0.64, 95% confidence interval: 0.42–0.96). The findings provide insight into how vaccine perceptions change in concert with a public health emergency.
AB - We examined perceptions of vaccines and changes during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. From 2019 to 2021, a national sample of young gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men completed an open-ended survey item about vaccine perceptions. Analyses identified themes and polarity (negative, neutral, or positive) within responses and determined temporal changes across phases of the pandemic (“pre-pandemic,” “pandemic,” “initial vaccine availability,” or “widespread vaccine availability”). Themes included health benefits of vaccines (53.9%), fear of shots (23.7%), COVID-19 (10.3%), vaccines being safe (5.6%), and vaccine hesitancy/misinformation (5.5%). Temporal changes existed for multiple themes (p <.05). Overall, 53.0% of responses were positive, 31.2% were negative, and 15.8% were neutral. Compared to the pre-pandemic phase, polarity was less positive for the widespread vaccine availability phase (odds ratio = 0.64, 95% confidence interval: 0.42–0.96). The findings provide insight into how vaccine perceptions change in concert with a public health emergency.
KW - Vaccine
KW - bisexual men
KW - gay men
KW - immunization
KW - vaccination
KW - young adult
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U2 - 10.1080/21645515.2023.2281717
DO - 10.1080/21645515.2023.2281717
M3 - Article
C2 - 37965729
AN - SCOPUS:85177070959
SN - 2164-5515
VL - 19
JO - Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics
JF - Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics
IS - 3
M1 - 2281717
ER -