Association of death or illness from COVID-19 among family and friends on vaccine uptake within four months of the Emergency Use Authorization. Findings from a national survey in the United States.
Saurabh Kalra, Deepak Kalra, Irina Grafova, Julia Sass Rubin, Alan Monheit, Joel Cantor, Paul Duberstein, Soumitra S Bhuyan
Author Information
Saurabh Kalra: Rutgers School of Public Health, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA. Electronic address: saurabh.kalra@rutgers.edu.
Deepak Kalra: Department of Neurology, Penn State College of Medicine, Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, PA, USA. Electronic address: dkalra@pennstatehealth.psu.edu.
Irina Grafova: Rutgers School of Public Health, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA. Electronic address: grafovib@sph.rutgers.edu.
Julia Sass Rubin: Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA. Electronic address: jlsrubin@rutgers.edu.
Alan Monheit: Rutgers School of Public Health, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA. Electronic address: monheiac@sph.rutgers.edu.
Joel Cantor: Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA. Electronic address: jcantor@ifh.rutgers.edu.
Paul Duberstein: Rutgers School of Public Health, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA. Electronic address: paul.duberstein@rutgers.edu.
Soumitra S Bhuyan: Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA. Electronic address: soumitra.bhuyan@rutgers.edu.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between knowing that a friend or family member became ill with, or died from, COVID-19 and receiving a vaccine dose within four months of the FDA's Emergency Use Authorization. METHODS: A national sample of 1,517 respondents were surveyed from April 7 to April 12, 2021, 1,193 of whom were eligible for the vaccine when the data were collected. RESULTS: Respondents who knew someone who became ill with COVID-19 (AOR = 2.32, 95 % CI 1.74-3.09) or knew someone who died (AOR = 2.29, 95 % CI 1.32-3.99) from COVID-19 were more likely to receive at least a single COVID-19 vaccine dose. CONCLUSION: Encouraging people to share their COVID-19 illness and bereavement experiences with their local network such as friends, families, social-networks and via social media might help increase vaccine uptake.
