Page 143 - GHES-3-2

Global Health Economics and
Sustainability

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Vaccine hesitancy and its association with

demographics, mental health, and disability:
Findings from the VH-3 study in the United

States, India, and China

2†
1
Arinjita Bhattacharyya , Shikshita Singh , Swarna Sakshi , Anand Seth 4† ,
3†
and Shesh N. Rai *
4
1 Merck & Co, Inc., Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America
2 Department of Osteopathic Medicine, Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine,
Ivins, Utah, United States of America
3 Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dothan, Alabama, United States of America
4 Biostatistics and Informatics Shared Resource, University of Cincinnati Cancer Center, Cincinnati,
† These authors contributed equally Ohio, United States of America, Cancer Data Science Center, University of Cincinnati College of
to this work. Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America, Department of Biostatistics, Health Informatics
and Data Science, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of
Academic editor: America
Mihajlo Jakovljevic M.D. Ph.D. MAE
*Corresponding author:
Shesh N. Rai
(raise@ucmail.uc.edu) Abstract
Citation: Bhattacharyya, A., Singh,
S., Sakshi, S., Seth, A., & Rai, S.N. The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which causes COVID-19, has claimed millions
(2025). Vaccine hesitancy and its of lives since December 2019. The rapid development of vaccine candidates and
association with demographics, treatments has led to increased confusion and mistrust regarding the development,
mental health, and disability:
Findings from the VH-3 study in the emergency authorization, and approval processes. To better understand vaccine
United States, India, and China. hesitancy, we analyzed two publicly available datasets: One from the Inter-University
Global Health Econ Sustain, Consortium for Political and Social Research Covid-19 database and the other from
3(2):135-155.
https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.2958 the United States (US) Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey Phase 3.2. In India,
90.2% of 1,761 participants indicated acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccine. A binary
Received: February 18, 2024
logistic regression model, using vaccine hesitancy as a dichotomous variable,
Revised: August 21, 2024 showed that rural populations had an odds ratio (OR) of 3.45 (p < 0.05) for vaccine
Accepted: September 12, 2024 hesitancy. In addition, income played a significant role, with individuals earning
7501 – 15,000 Indian Rupees (INR)/month, or US$ 91 – 183, having an OR of 1.41
Published online: February 24,
2025 compared to other income groups. In the US, 67.3% of 1,768 participants expressed
willingness to accept the vaccine. White participants had an OR > 1 compared to
Copyright: © 2025 Author(s).
This is an Open Access article other racial groups, while low-income groups earning US$ 2000 – 4999/month had
distributed under the terms of the an OR of 1.03. In China, 90.0% of 1,727 participants indicated they would accept
Creative Commons Attribution a vaccine, with high-income groups showing the least resistance (OR = 0.96)
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, compared to other groups. Among the three countries studied, the US exhibited
provided the original work is the highest rate of vaccine hesitancy. This ongoing issue warrants attention from
properly cited. the World Health Organization.
Publisher’s Note: AccScience
Publishing remains neutral with Keywords: Vaccine hesitancy; COVID-19; Pandemic; SARS-Cov-2; Mental health;
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional Multinomial logistic regression
affiliations.

Volume 3 Issue 2 (2025) 135 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.2958