The disparity in hesitancy toward COVID-19 vaccination between older individuals in nursing homes and those in the community in Taizhou, China

Abstract Purpose Older individuals are priority coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine recipients. Our aim was to investigate the prevalence of and factors influencing vaccine hesitancy in older individuals living in nursing homes and communities. Methods A self-administered COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy survey was conducted from September 2021 to December 2021 among people aged ≥ 60 years in eight nursing homes (382 participants) and the community (112 participants) in Taizhou, China. The response rate was 72.1% (382/530) for older adults in nursing homes and 68.7% (112/163) for older adults in the community. Results We found that 58.1% of the older individuals in nursing homes and 36.6% of those in the community were hesitant to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and that there was a statistically significant difference (P