Back to Search
Start Over
Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Covid-19 and Vaccines Among a New York Haredi-Orthodox Jewish Community
- Source :
- Journal of Community Health
- Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the difficulty of the US public health system to respond effectively to vulnerable subpopulations, causing disproportionate rates of morbidity and mortality. New York Haredi-Orthodox Jewish communities represent a group that have been heavily impacted by Covid-19. Little research has examined their experience or perceptions toward Covid-19 and vaccines. We conducted a cross-sectional, observational study to explore the experience of Covid-19 among Haredim. Paper surveys were self-administered between December 2020 and January 2021 in Haredi neighborhood pediatricians' offices in Brooklyn, New York. Of 102 respondents, 43% reported either a positive SARS-CoV-2 viral or antibody test. Participants trusted their physicians, Orthodox medical organizations, and rabbinic leaders for medical information. Knowledge of Covid-19 transmission and risk was good (69% answered ≥ 4/6 questions correctly). Only 12% of respondents would accept a Covid-19 vaccine, 41% were undecided and 47% were strongly hesitant. Independent predictors of strong vaccine hesitancy included believing natural infection to be better than vaccination for developing immunity (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 4.28; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.23-14.86), agreement that prior infection provides a path toward resuming communal life (aOR 4.10; 95% CI 1.22-13.77), and pandemic-related loss of trust in physicians (aOR 5.01; 95% CI 1.05-23.96). The primary disseminators of health information for self-protective religious communities should be stakeholders who understand these groups' unique health needs. In communities with significant Covid-19 experience, vaccination messaging may need to be tailored toward protecting infection-naive individuals and boosting natural immunity against emerging variants.
- Subjects :
- medicine.medical_specialty
Health (social science)
COVID-19 Vaccines
Judaism
New York
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Pandemic
medicine
Humans
030212 general & internal medicine
Survey
Pandemics
Vaccine hesitancy
Vaccines
Original Paper
030505 public health
SARS-CoV-2
Public health
Vaccination
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
COVID-19
Odds ratio
Confidence interval
Test (assessment)
Cross-Sectional Studies
Attitude
Family medicine
Jews
Observational study
0305 other medical science
Psychology
Orthodox Jewish
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15733610
- Volume :
- 46
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of community health
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....0930b3e880f98ae34190f19a9719cb42