Examining the Relationship between Anti-Black Racism, Community and Police Violence, and COVID-19 Vaccination. Behav Med 2023 Aug 14:1-10
Date
08/14/2023Pubmed ID
37578320Pubmed Central ID
PMC10864675DOI
10.1080/08964289.2023.2244626Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85167976895 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 1 CitationAbstract
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic emerged against a backdrop of long-standing racial inequities that contributed to significant disparities in COVID-19 mortality, morbidity, and eventually, vaccination rates. COVID-19 also converged with two social crises: anti-Black racism and community and police violence. The goal of this study was to examine the associations between community violence, police violence, anti-Black racism, and COVID-19 vaccination. Survey data were collected from a sample of 538 Black residents of Chicago between September 2021 and March 2022. Structural equation modeling was used to test associations between neighborhood violence, police violence, racism, medical mistrust, trust in COVID-related information, depressive symptoms, and having received a COVID-19 vaccination. In line with predictions, neighborhood violence had a significant indirect effect on vaccination via trust in COVID-related information from a personal doctor. Additionally, racism had a significant indirect effect on vaccination via trust in COVID-related information from a personal doctor, as well as via medical mistrust and trust in COVID-related information from a personal doctor. These findings add to the growing body of literature demonstrating the importance of medical mistrust when examining COVID-19 vaccination disparities. Furthermore, this study highlights the importance of considering how social and structural factors such as violence and racism can influence medical mistrust.
Author List
Quinn KG, Hunt BR, Jacobs J, Valencia J, Voisin D, Walsh JLAuthors
Katherine Quinn PhD Associate Professor in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine department at Medical College of WisconsinJennifer L. Walsh PhD Associate Professor in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin
