Household Density and Influences from Family and Friends Shape Vaccine Intent Among Latino Families in the San Francisco Bay Area

Background Latino have had higher case counts, hospitalization rates and deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic nationally and in the state of California. Meanwhile, Latino vaccination rates remain lower than those of non-Hispanic Whites. COVID-19 vaccine nonintent, defined as intent not to vaccinate for COVID-19, among Latino individuals continues to be an issue in the state of California. Methods Families from three Latino longitudinal mother child cohorts previously recruited in the San Francisco Bay Area were surveyed telephonically from February to July 2021 to assess attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination and prior vaccination, in general, for themselves and their children. Risk for vaccine nonintent was assessed using Mann-Whitney rank sum non-parametric test for continuous predictors and chi-squared tests for categorical ones. Results Three hundred and eighteen families were surveyed from the Telomere at Birth (TAB), Hispanic Eating and Nutrition (HEN) and Latino Eating and Diabetes Cohort (LEAD). Approximately 36% from TAB and 28% from HEN/LEAD indicated COVID-19 vaccine nonintent for themselves and/or their children. Risk factors for vaccine nonintent included lower maternal age (p=0.01), concern about vaccine side effects (p<0.01) and prior history of a household members being infected with COVID-19 (p<0.01) and indexes of household crowding including number of people sharing a bathroom (p=0.048). Vaccine intent was also associated with receiving vaccine input from friends (p=0.03), family (p<0.01) and/or coworkers (p=0.02) compared with those who were not planning on getting COVID-19 vaccination. It is possible that those with non-intent have received limited input from families, friends and/or coworkers. Discussion Latino families living in crowded living situations who may not have received any COVID-19 advice family, coworkers or friends are at particular risk for COVID-19 vaccine nonintent. Community based grassroots interventions that focus on trusted individuals with close ties to the community counseling about COVID-19 vaccination could help to boost vaccination rates in this population group.