The Southern Medical Journal (SMJ) is the official, peer-reviewed journal of the Southern Medical Association. It has a multidisciplinary and inter-professional focus that covers a broad range of topics relevant to physicians and other healthcare specialists.

SMJ // Article

Original Article

CME Article: Survey of COVID-19 Vaccine Attitudes in Predominately Minority Pregnant Women

Authors: Engelbert Bonilla, MD, Joshua Fogel, PhD, Robert Hubley, BS, Rahul Anand, BS, Paul C. Liu, MD, JD

Abstract

Objectives: Despite recommendations for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination during pregnancy, some pregnant women are concerned about COVID-19 vaccines and decline to be vaccinated. This study focuses on attitudes in a sample of mostly minority pregnant Hispanic and Black women that may influence vaccine hesitancy.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey of 400 pregnant women. Participants were provided with a one-page information sheet on pregnancy health, COVID-19 health, and COVID-19 vaccines. They were then asked to complete a survey on attitudes about these topics.

Results: We found that attitudes for knowing about the health topics were in the range from agree to strongly agree, whereas attitudes for knowing about topics pertaining to COVID-19 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines were in a lower-level range from neutral to agree. Negative vaccine attitudes were significantly associated with decreased agreement for knowing about health attitudes, but not significantly associated with COVID-19 mRNA vaccine attitudes.

Conclusions: COVID-19 vaccine mRNA technology was a lesser understood topic than attitudes for knowing about other health topics. This finding suggests the need for physician intervention and that further education about COVID-19 vaccine mRNA technology may influence patient attitudes toward acceptance of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in pregnancy.
Posted in: Infectious Disease156 Pregnancy37

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