COVID-19 Vaccine Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices in Alabama: The Case for Primary Health Care Providers

Objective: To examine knowledge, attitudes, and practices about COVID-19 in Alabama, with a primary focus on vaccination perception and utilization. Design: We used a COVID-19 Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices survey and recruited adult Alabama residents in April-May 2021. Participants: Initial surveys from 1324 Alabamian participants were considered for analysis; after careful review of incomplete responses, 953 were ultimately included for analysis. Main Outcome Measure: Vaccine behavior and hesitancy comprise a self-reported response contained in the survey instrument. Three primary vaccine groups were used to assess differences in demographic characteristics, health status, perception of susceptibility and severity of COVID-19, sources of information, and trust about COVID-19. Results: Of the 953 survey participants included for analysis, 951 had self-identified vaccine status in which 153 (16.1%) reported to have received the vaccine at the time of the survey, 375 (39.4%) were very likely or somewhat likely to get an approved COVID-19 vaccine if it was offered, and 423 (44.5%) were somewhat unlikely or very unlikely to get an approved COVID-19 vaccine. Health care providers were the most trusted sources of information, regardless of vaccine status. For participants unlikely to receive a vaccine, social media and local news sources were consistently more trusted and utilized than those who were vaccinated or were likely to be. Conclusions: The perceptions among unvaccinated participants are actionable and provide teachable opportunities to decrease vaccine apprehension.