Social Network, Political Climate, Income Inequality, and Americans Uptake of Monovalent COVID-19 Booster

Feng Hao, Wanyun Shao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

<p> <p id="x-x-sp0005"> The COVID-19 pandemic has posed an unprecedented impact on Americans for over three years. To control the damage, a booster shot becomes increasingly necessary because the efficacy of the initial vaccine is waning and new variants of the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/virus" title="Learn more about virus from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages"> virus </a> are emerging. This study aims to understand factors at both individual and state levels that influence one&rsquo;s decision to take the monovalent booster. We merged data from a national survey administered in the Spring of 2022 with state-level indicators of the political climate, income inequality, and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/public-health" title="Learn more about public health from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages"> public health </a> conditions. Multilevel <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/logistic-regression-analysis" title="Learn more about logistic regression from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages"> logistic regression </a> is adopted for statistical estimation. Findings show contrasting effects of the social network. More vaccinated people in one&rsquo;s network promote booster uptake, while more family members and close friends who contracted the virus in one&rsquo;s network inhibit booster uptake. In addition, residents of states with more votes for the Democratic candidate in the 2020 general election are more likely to take the booster. Meanwhile, residents from states with high income inequality are less likely to become boosted. This study identified multilevel determinants of the individual decision to receive the monovalent COVID-19 booster. The results imply the need to leverage the social network, weaken partisanship salience, and reduce income inequality to encourage booster uptake. </p></p>
Original languageAmerican English
JournalVaccine
Volume41
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2023

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • Monovalent Booster Uptake
  • Multilevel Predictors
  • Social Network
  • Political Climate
  • Income Inequality

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