Disciplines
Community Health and Preventive Medicine | Health Services Research | Medicine and Health Sciences | Public Health
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Throughout the United States (U.S) there is a variety of people who are hesitant to get the COVID vaccine. Research was collected on April 14,2021 by the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, at a county level for each state. The data depicted this by showing different levels of vaccine hesitancy: “strongly hesitant,” “hesitant,” and “unsure.” Participants could choose between five options: “definitely get a vaccine,” “probably get a vaccine,” “unsure,” “probably not get a vaccine,” and “definitely not get a vaccine” . Strongly hesitant included those who only responded they would “definitely not” get the vaccine. We decided with this information to only use the “Strongly hesitant” variable for our data. We used this data to look at the South-east region of the United States, specifically Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee. Overall, the purpose of our study is to determine whether there is a difference between vaccine hesitancy and a county being rural vs. non-rural. Using the U.S Department of Agriculture definition of rural, 500 people or less is considered rural per square mile and anything more than 500 people per square mile is considered non-rural. Then we will identify the counties that are rural and the amount of vaccine hesitancy and the non-rural with their vaccine hesitancy. We will be using our data to make statistical graphs to identify the different sizes of rural and non-rural areas. Using this data, we will compare both data of vaccine hesitancy to see if there is a difference between the levels of hesitancy in rural vs. non-rural counties. In conclusion, we expect our data to show that there is a difference in the vaccine hesitancy and of a county being defined as rural or non-rural. This study can help improve our understanding of each county and be able to identify more relationships between health decisions in each county.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
Other
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Kevin Gittner
Comparative Analysis between Vaccine Hesitancy and Rural vs Non-Rural Counties in the South-East Region
Throughout the United States (U.S) there is a variety of people who are hesitant to get the COVID vaccine. Research was collected on April 14,2021 by the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, at a county level for each state. The data depicted this by showing different levels of vaccine hesitancy: “strongly hesitant,” “hesitant,” and “unsure.” Participants could choose between five options: “definitely get a vaccine,” “probably get a vaccine,” “unsure,” “probably not get a vaccine,” and “definitely not get a vaccine” . Strongly hesitant included those who only responded they would “definitely not” get the vaccine. We decided with this information to only use the “Strongly hesitant” variable for our data. We used this data to look at the South-east region of the United States, specifically Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee. Overall, the purpose of our study is to determine whether there is a difference between vaccine hesitancy and a county being rural vs. non-rural. Using the U.S Department of Agriculture definition of rural, 500 people or less is considered rural per square mile and anything more than 500 people per square mile is considered non-rural. Then we will identify the counties that are rural and the amount of vaccine hesitancy and the non-rural with their vaccine hesitancy. We will be using our data to make statistical graphs to identify the different sizes of rural and non-rural areas. Using this data, we will compare both data of vaccine hesitancy to see if there is a difference between the levels of hesitancy in rural vs. non-rural counties. In conclusion, we expect our data to show that there is a difference in the vaccine hesitancy and of a county being defined as rural or non-rural. This study can help improve our understanding of each county and be able to identify more relationships between health decisions in each county.