Geographic Isolation and Vaccine Hesitancy

Abstract

Vaccine hesitancy has recently been a major point of discussion in politics and health care. There are several studies that have identified potential causes and populations disproportionately impacted by vaccine hesitancy, among which the literature shows that rural individuals are generally more likely to exhibit vaccine hesitancy. However, these studies primarily focus on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine hesitancy, which begs the question of the extent to which vaccines that have spent less time in the forefront of United States politics, such as the influenza vaccine, follow the same trends. Through a logistic regression analysis of National Health Interview Survey data between 2019 and 2022, this study examines the correlation between influenza and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, as well as the more subtle but noteworthy differences across urban and rural populations as well as racial, regional, generational, and other demographics.