Trust and experiences of National Health Service healthcare do not fully explain demographic disparities in coronavirus vaccination uptake in the UK: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective

To test whether demographic variation in vaccine hesitancy can be explained by trust and healthcare experiences.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting

Data collected online in April 2021.

Participants

Data were collected from 4885 UK resident adults, of whom 3223 had received the invitation to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus and could therefore be included in the study. 1629 included participants identified as female and 1594 as male. 234 identified as belonging to other than white ethnic groups, while 2967 identified as belonging to white ethnic groups.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

Uptake of coronavirus vaccination.

Results

Membership of an other than white ethnic group (adjusted OR (AOR)=0.53, 95% CI 0.35 to 0.84, p=0.005) and age (AOR=1.61, 95% CI 1.39 to 1.87, p<0.001 for a 1 SD change from the mean) were the only statistically significant demographic predictors of vaccine uptake. After controls for National Health Service (NHS) healthcare experiences and trust in government, scientists and medical professionals, the effect associated with membership of an other than white ethnic group appears more marginal (AOR=0.61, 95% CI 0.38 to 1.01, p=0.046), while the effect associated with age remains virtually unchanged. Exploratory analysis suggests that NHS healthcare experiences mediate 24% (95% CI 8% to 100%, p=0.024) of the association between ethnicity and uptake, while trust mediates 94% (95% CI 56% to 100%, p=0.001) of the association between NHS healthcare experiences and uptake.

Conclusions

Members of other than white ethnic groups report inferior NHS healthcare experiences, potentially explaining their lower reported trust in government, scientists and medical professionals. However, this does not fully explain the ethnic gap in coronavirus vaccination uptake.