Study: Racial and ethnic disparities in vaccine uptake, hesitancy

Editor's Note

This study by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, finds that racial and ethnic minorities have been more hesitant or unwilling to be vaccinated for COVID-19, compared to Whites.

Of study participants in the US (87,388) and UK (1,254,294):

• Vaccine hesitancy was greater for Black and Hispanic participants and those reporting more than one or other race in the US, compared to Whites.
• Racial and ethnic minority participants in the UK showed similar levels of vaccine hesitancy as those in the US.
• Association between race and ethnicity and levels of vaccine uptake were different in the US and UK, with vaccine uptake significantly lower among Blacks in the US and no statistically significant racial and ethnic disparities in vaccine uptake in the UK.

The findings suggest that lack of access to the COVID-19 vaccine in the US, rather than lower willingness to receive it, may have played a greater role in racial-ethnic disparities. The centralized, national vaccine distribution in the UK appeared better able to deliver vaccines in a more equitable manner than the US, the researchers say.