COVID-19 vaccination and people with disabilities

People with disabilities face greater risk of adverse health outcomes and death from COVID-19 infection. As vaccination efforts continue across the United States, it is critical that accurate and reliable information about the COVID-19 vaccines reach this population. The purpose of this study was to investigate how people with disabilities view these vaccines as well as what barriers they face in getting vaccinated. In February of 2021, we launched an online survey looking into the vaccination status, trust in information sources on COVID-19 and vaccines, and attitudes and barriers surrounding vaccination efforts. In particular, we sought to examine differences among urban and rural respondents. We recruited participants from MTurk and invited them to complete the survey we had created using Qualtrics. We included a set of screening questions to filter for age, disability status, and to screen out bots. The following questions asked about health status, health literacy, vaccination status and intent, views of and barriers surrounding access to vaccines, trust in information sources, and other pandemic related topics. We processed and analyzed the results using a statistical software and produced the results in a research brief and manuscript.