Religious and Racial/Ethnic Differences in Flu and COVID-19 Vaccination Intentions

ABSTRACT Vaccination is an effective public health initiative to reduce severe illness and death due to COVID-19. Vaccine uptake in the United States has been uneven, however. One proposed mechanism to improve vaccine uptake is to engage religious groups to provide health information and encourage vaccination. It remains unclear though if Americans with differing racial/ethnic identities and religious affiliations are equally likely to receive health-related information in religious settings and endorse COVID-19 vaccination. We assessed data from the 2020–2021 National Politics Study, which utilized a national research panel of U.S. adults. Using logistic regression and a treatment effects approach, we found that having heard health-related messages in religious settings and endorsing progressive religious ideology were associated with increased COVID-19 and flu vaccine acceptance. This relationship was stronger among White American worship-goers. These findings suggest that partnerships with religious organizations may be important if additional barriers to vaccination are also addressed.