LAURA M. BOGART, LU DONG, PRIYA GANDHI, SAMANTHA RYAN, TERRY L. SMITH,
DAVID J. KLEIN, LUCKIE ALEXANDER FULLER, BISOLA O. OJIKUTU
What Contributes to
COVID-19 Vaccine
Hesitancy in Black
Communities, and How
Can It Be Addressed?
R
ecent polls show that Black Americans are less willing than Americans of other races or
ethnicities to be vaccinated for COVID-19, even after the November 2020 announcements
by pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech and Moderna about their vaccines’
high efficacy.
1
For example, responses to a November 2020 poll of an online survey panel
found that 42 percent of Black Americans, versus 63 percent of Hispanic or Latinx Americans
and 61 percent of White Americans, said that they would definitely or probably get vaccinated.
2
A December 2020 nationally
representative telephone poll found
that 35 percent of Black adults said
that they would definitely not or
probably not get vaccinated
3
—and
about half of those who did not
want to get vaccinated cited mistrust
of vaccines as well as worry about
getting COVID-19 from the vaccine
as main reasons. Evidence thus
far suggests that the percentage
of Black individuals who show
COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy has
stayed consistently high, relative to
other racial and ethnic groups in
the United States, from April 2020
C O R P O R A T I O N
KEY FINDINGS
Q A survey of a nationally representative sample of 207 Black Ameri-
cans conducted in late 2020 found high levels of vaccine hesitancy
and mistrust of COVID-19 vaccines in the overall sample, as well as
among health care workers in particular.
Q Those who expressed vaccine hesitancy also showed high levels
of overall mistrust, concerns about potential harm and side effects,
and lack of condence in vaccine effectiveness and safety.
Q Participants reported higher trust in COVID-19 information from
health care providers and public health ofcials than from elected
local and federal ofcials.
Q Mistrust of the government’s motives and transparency around
COVID-19, as well as beliefs about racism in health care, appear to
be contributing to mistrust of the vaccine.
Q Black Americans attribute their medical mistrust, in general and
specic to COVID-19 vaccines, to systemic racism, including
discrimination and mistreatment in health care, as well as by the
government.
Research Report
