Vaccine hesitancy remains a common setback in Hawaii, with the state Department of Health reporting only 44.8% of residents in the state received their first booster, and just 11.6% received their second.
A new paper from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center published last week analyzed results from 1,600 Hawaii adults about how trust and consumption of information affected their decisions to get vaccinated.
“This study shows that social factors, including education and individual-level degree of trust in sources of COVID-19 information, played a large part in whether someone decided to get a booster shot,” UH-Manoa economics professor Ruben Juarez said in a statement. “COVID-19 booster hesitancy remains an issue in our community, and understanding what contributes to this has significant implications to ongoing public health responses as we enter a new phase in the pandemic.”
According to the study, those vaccinated within two months of eligibility tended to have more years of schooling, with an overall greater trust in and consumption of official sources of COVID-19 information. Most of that group also received the booster shot, with 70% getting it within two months of eligibility and 30.5% waiting three to six months.
Individuals with advanced degrees were 52% more likely to get vaccinated, compared to those who lacked education beyond grades 6-12.
Individuals who reported they always consumed information from local governments were 39% more likely to get vaccinated than those who never consumed from those sources.
“Results from our study reinforces the need to nurture, trust and promote health literacy in our community, which our model predicts will improve vaccine uptake, including boosters,” said Alika Maunakea, John A. Burns School of Medicine associate professor. “This is especially important given new COVID-19 vaccines recently announced by the FDA that target the omicron variant that is currently circulating in our population.”
The recently approved bivalent vaccines are expected to arrive in Hawaii County this week, according to the DOH.
“(The DOH) recommends the use of the first bivalent booster vaccines designed specifically to protect against original COVID-19 and the most common forms of COVID-19 in Hawaii, the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants,” the DOH announced Thursday, adding that BA.5 accounts for roughly 91% of COVID cases throughout the state, and BA.4 accounts for 4%.
“The new bivalent boosters are an upgrade, because they take into account mutations of the COVID-19 virus to specifically address omicron subvariants,” state Health Director Elizabeth Char said in the announcement.
The boosters will be available for those who received their primary inoculations, with Moderna’s available for those 18 and older and Pfizer’s available for those 12 and older.
Appointments as well as locations to receive the bivalent vaccines can be found by visiting hawaiicovid19.com/vaccine.
Email Grant Phillips at gphillips@hawaiitribune-herald.com.