COVID-19 vaccine uptake lower among Black health care providers

(HealthDay)—Black, nonphysician health care personnel (HCP) were less likely to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in the first four months of availability versus clinicians of other races, according to a study published online Dec. 1 in JAMA Network Open.

Judith Green-McKenzie, M.D., from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and colleagues assessed COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among 12,610 HCP during the first months of availability in a large academic hospital (Dec. 16, 2020, to April 16, 2021).

The researchers found that 76 percent of HCP received at least one vaccine dose during the first four months of vaccine availability. Black (relative risk [RR], 0.69) and multiracial (RR, 0.80) HCP were less likely to receive the vaccine compared with White HCP, when adjusting for age, sex, job position, and social vulnerability index. Compared with White and Asian or Pacific Islander counterparts, Black nurses (189 nurses; 62.8 percent), Black HCP with some patient contact (466; 49.9 percent), and Black HCP with no patient contact (636; 56.3 percent) had lower vaccine uptake. However, Black physicians were as likely as physicians of other racial and ethnic groups to receive the vaccine.

"With a mandatory vaccine policy now a reality at this hospital, the hope is that unvaccinated HCP will decide to be vaccinated and hospital leadership can adequately address reasons for hesitancy," the authors write.

One author disclosed financial ties to Moderna.

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