Living in Boston During COVID-19: Vaccination Planning and Hesitancy
In a newly released report from the Boston Area Research Initiative, the Center for Survey Research, and the Boston Public Health Commission, Assistant Professor Ryan Wang and a host of colleagues from Northeastern and other universities and organizations published the fifth installment of their research into the pandemic in the Boston area.
That report, titled “Living in Boston During COVID-19: Vaccination Planning and Hesitancy,” was recently profiled in a story by the Boston Globe. The research revealed differences in vaccine hesitancy based on a number of social categories, including race, education, and gender.
Key findings include:
- One in five Bostonians do not plan to get vaccinated.
- Black and Latinx Bostonians are more hesitant to get vaccinated than white respondents.
- Respondents with less formal education have less enthusiasm regarding their plans to get vaccinated, compared to those with college education.
- Men and women have different plans to get vaccinated.
Dr. Ryan Wang is an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northeastern University. He is Associate Director of Research on Social Media for the Boston Area Research Initiative, an intrauniversity partnership that brings together experts and leaders to envision the future of the city. “Combining both survey results and large-scale mobility data sets collected from cell phones, we hope to understand how the gradual rollout of a vaccine will impact and reduce the transmission of the deadly virus and eventually achieve herd immunity in the Boston area,” said Prof. Wang.