Discrimination backfires? Minority ethnic disparities in vaccine hesitancy

Costa-Font, Joan ORCID: 0000-0001-7174-7919 and Docrat, Fatima (2024) Discrimination backfires? Minority ethnic disparities in vaccine hesitancy. Economics and Human Biology, 55. ISSN 1570-677X

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Abstract

A number of minority ethnic groups (MEGs) exhibited persistent reluctance to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. This paper attempts to empirically identify some of the contentious behavioral determinants for vaccine hesitancy (VH) that remain unexplained including the role of risk perceptions, trust in government institutions, and prior experiences of racism and trauma. We draw on unique longitudinal data from a minority-boosted sample that was collected in the United Kingdon (UK). We document robust evidence of MEG disparities in VH, which declined between November 2020 and March 2021. While VH is associated to both historical and current distrust in government, risk beliefs, exposure to racism, and an individuals socio-economic background, these factors do not fully explain MEG disparities. Furthermore, similar patterns of inequality are observed when we examine MEG disparities in healthcare use, suggesting that disparities in VH reflect broader unobservable structural barriers to healthcare access.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Health Policy
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine H Social Sciences
JEL classification:	I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I18 - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J15 - Economics of Minorities and Races; Non-labor Discrimination J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J18 - Public Policy
Date Deposited:	14 Oct 2024 13:42
Last Modified:	19 Nov 2024 17:24
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/125725

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