Adherence to COVID-19 vaccination recommendations and vaccine hesitancy in US blood donors

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Transfusion
• Personal Author:
  Avelino-Silva, Vivian I. ; Bruhn, Roberta ; Zurita, Karla G. ; Grebe, Eduard ; Stone, Mars ; Busch, Michael P. ; Custer, Brian
• Description:
  Background
  
  General vaccination rates have been falling globally despite unequivocal health benefits. Noncompliance can result from access barriers and/or hesitant attitudes. Few studies have investigated the prevalence and determinants of noncompliance with COVID-19 vaccination in blood donors.
  
  Methods
  
  We surveyed blood donors on COVID-19 infection and vaccination history, barriers and motivations for COVID-19 vaccination, and comorbidities. We estimate the prevalence of noncompliance, the prevalence of hesitancy towards COVID-19 vaccines, and investigate associated factors using multivariable models.
  
  Results
  
  From December/2021-December/2022, 33,610 survey respondents were included. Of those, 24% had not been vaccinated for COVID-19 or had missing vaccination information, and 99% of those who reported reasons for being unvaccinated declared at least one of three hesitant attitudes presented in the survey (safety concerns; personal/cultural/religious beliefs; being young and not worrying about being vaccinated). Among noncompliant donors, <2% reported access barriers. In the multivariable model addressing factors associated with vaccine noncompliance, younger age, male gender, White/Caucasian race, absence of comorbidities, residency in a State with less restrictive COVID-19 policies, and living in micropolitan or rural areas were identified as significant predictors. Younger age and White/Caucasian race were independently associated with vaccine hesitancy among noncompliant donors.
  
  Conclusions
  
  We found high rates of noncompliance with COVID-19 vaccination in blood donors, mostly driven by vaccine hesitancy. Understanding vaccine adherence among blood donors – a relatively highly educated and healthy population, with good healthcare access and usually motivated by altruism - could provide key information on determinants of vaccine noncompliance that may be harder to overcome.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Adult Aged Blood Donors COVID-19 COVID-19 Vaccines Female Humans Male Middle Aged SARS-CoV-2 Surveys And Questionnaires United States Vaccination Vaccination Hesitancy Young Adult

  More +
• Keywords:
  Blood Donors Vaccine Hesitancy Vaccines
• Source:
  Transfusion. 64(12):2314-2324
• Pubmed ID:
  39429020
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC11637913
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  75D30120C08170/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/ ; 75D30120C08170/CC/CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  64
• Issue:
  12
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:caeb69080d352f3092a1a58f74f429bb7b79fa9deff2bba673f37307144ed823dabd12faf29d121045a123232265e0f858884721a1175b7d31cd68e3f4d2196b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/174812/cdc_174812_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 133.97 KB ]