Skeptical Health Mavens May Limit COVID-19 Vaccine Diffusion: Using the Innovation Diffusion Cycle to Interpret Results of a Cross-sectional Survey among People Who are Socially Vulnerable

Abstract

We sought to identify barriers to COVID-19 vaccine uptake among persons who are socially vulnerable in light of the natural cycle of innovation diffusion. Widespread adoption of a health innovation requires a cadre of opinion leaders to build on successes experienced by early adopters. One type of opinion leader in healthcare are health mavens: members of a community who maintain up-to-date health knowledge and share their knowledge others. We surveyed 139 persons who are socially vulnerable regarding their COVID-19 vaccination intention, and evaluated their responses based on psychological traits captured by two scales: innovativeness and health mavenism. Health mavenism was not strongly correlated with COVID-19 vaccine intention. Health mavens often relied on their own healthcare providers (n = 46) and health agency websites (n = 42) for vaccine information. Those who relied on their faith leaders (n = 4) reported a lower likelihood of getting vaccinated (31.5% vs. 76.0%, p < .05). The observed lack of support by health mavens represents a critical barrier to COVID-19 vaccine uptake; targeting campaigns to health mavens may increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake in socially vulnerable communities.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the members of the Data4Action Research Group: Dee Bagshaw, Clinical & Translational Science Institute, Nita Bharti, Dept. of Biology and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Cyndi Flanagan, Clinical Research Center, Matthew Ferrari, Dept. of Biology & Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Thomas Gates, Social Science Research Institute, Margeaux Gray, Dept. of Biobehavioral Health, Suresh Kuchipudi, Animal Diagnostic Lab, Vivek Kapur, Dept. of Animal Science and the Huck Institutes of Life Sciences, Stephanie Lanza, Dept. of Biobehavioral Health and the Prevention Research Center, James Marden, Dept. of Biology & Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Molly Martin, Dept. of Sociology and Criminology, Susan McHale, Dept. of Human Development and Family Studies and the Social Science Research Institute, Jessica Myrick, Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, Glenda Palmer, Social Science Research Institute, Andrew Read, Depts. of Biology and Entomology, and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Connie Rogers, Dept. of Nutritional Sciences and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Lauren J. Van Scoy, Department of Medicine, Meg Small, College of Health and Human Development, and Charima Young, The Penn State Office of Government and Community Relations.

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Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.