Changes in COVID-19 Vaccine Intent From April/May to June/July 2021

Changes in COVID-19 Vaccine Intent From April/May to June/July 2021

Peter G. Szilagyi, MD, MPH; Kyla Thomas, PhD; Megha D. Shah, MD, MPH, MS; Nathalie Vizueta, PhD; Yan Cui, MD, PhD; Sitaram Vangala, MS; Arie Kapteyn,

Journal paper

JAMA

2021

Since May 2021, the US has offered COVID-19 vaccines to all adults,1 yet only 66% of adults were fully vaccinated by September 25, 2021. The Delta variant surge heightens the importance of vaccination. To optimize outreach and education, understanding the degree to which an individual’s intent to vaccinate changes over time and assessing factors that relate to rising vaccine likelihood are critical.2 For example, whether individuals who are initially “unsure” or “unlikely” will eventually be vaccinated is unknown. Most studies of vaccine intent are cross-sectional3 and cannot assess these changes. Using data from a nationally representative longitudinal study of adults in the US,4 we assessed individual-level change in vaccine intent and uptake between April 2021 and July 2021 and characteristics of individuals who reported an increase in vaccine likelihood or uptake