A Gendered Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccination Uptake

• In Event: 20820 - Section on Medical Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 2. Navigating the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Despite the rapid growth in the literature on vaccination behavior in recent years, few studies take a nuanced approach to uncovering how gender and domestic work are related to vaccination behavior. Gender is an especially important axis to consider within the research on vaccination uptake due to the documented “gender paradox” in which women have lower rates of vaccination despite being more open to public health messages. Moreover, the extant literature highlights how there are major discrepancies in the distribution of household work by gender, yet there is little understanding in how domestic work relates to vaccination behavior. We analyze nationally representative data to answer the following questions: How do gender and shifts in domestic work spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic relate to the likelihood of being fully vaccinated for COVID-19? How do these shifts relate to the relationship between gender and being vaccinated? The results suggest that women, relative to men, have a lower likelihood of being fully vaccinated while being more involved in domestic work, especially receiving additional support in domestic work, is associated with a greater likelihood of being vaccinated. Although there is little evidence of statistically significant gendered differences in how domestic work is associated with being fully vaccinated, the evidence points to both men and women having an increased likelihood of being fully vaccinated when receiving support in the household and more broadly being engaged with the household.

Authors

• Emilce Santana, Texas A&M University-College Station

• Defne Over, Texas A&M University-College Station

• Chaitanya Lakkimsetti, Texas A&M University-College Station

• Dulce Espinoza

• Anna Kelley, Texas A&M University