Survey Suggests Looming Difficulties for Covid Vaccination Program

New Study by ADoH SCIENTIFIC Uses Novel, Adjustable-graphics Interface to Quantify Mental and Behavioral Health

ADoH SCIENTIFIC, a new mental and behavioral health analytic assessment company, released a study indicating that vaccine hesitancy remained prevalent in the U.S., with a majority of respondents reporting some degree of hesitancy to receive a Covid-19 vaccine. The study, which surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1045 U.S. adults, indicated significant discrepancies between ethnic groups, with 55% of Black respondents indicating some level of vaccine hesitancy while only 26% of white respondents reported the same attitude.

“In order to bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control, the US needs to reach a base-level of national vaccination, and this data shows that vaccine hesitancy will be a significant obstacle to overcome – especially across certain populations,” said Al Fasola Jr, CEO of ADoH SCIENTIFIC LLC. “These findings are all the more alarming considering CDC data indicating that relative to the rest of the population, Black Americans are at 1.4X the risk for infection, 3.7X the risk for hospitalization, and 2.8X the risk for death due to COVID-19.”

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The ADoH SCIENTIFIC study surveyed U.S. adults using the company’s patented ADoH Digital Affect Mirror technology, which uses emoji-like sliding scales to quantify emotional states among patients. The new technology removes significant levels of bias and interpretation from typical psychological surveys and allows for accurate, granular reporting and analytics at unprecedented scale. The January 2021 survey is the first in a series of planned studies by ADoH SCIENTIFIC intended to track the national and state mental health levels along with vaccination attitudes over time in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

ADoH SCIENTIFIC used their behavioral health technology to calculate composite distress scores for all participants in the January study, along with vaccination attitudes. Among the findings:

• 88% of respondents reported some level of Stress
• 83% reported some level of Anxiety
• 70% reported some level of Loneliness
• 79% reported some level of Irritability
• 68% reported some level of Depression
• 54% reported some level of Fatigue/Low Energy
• 80% reported some level of Illness (i.e. less than optimal feelings of Health)
• 64% reported some level of Pain.

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“As a clinical psychologist, I can’t overemphasize the looming mental health need the nation faces in light of the trauma associated with the pandemic and social distancing, and in order to address it we will need wide vaccination buy-in across the country,” said Brian Sullivan, PsyD, Chief Science Officer of ADoH SCIENTIFIC. “By understanding the trends and stressors patients are feeling in a dispassionate, objective way with our technology, we can plan for long-term needs that are going to have a substantial positive impact on people’s lives.”

In addition to the behavioral data from ADoH SCIENTIFIC, the assessment also found:

• Nearly twice as many Black respondents than white respondents reported some level of fear regarding the Covid-19 vaccine.
  • 24% of Black respondents indicated they felt “afraid” of vaccination, only 13% of white respondents indicated they felt afraid.
  • 28% of Black respondents indicated indifference to vaccine opportunity; only 16% of white respondents indicated indifference.
• The top two emotions for white respondents regarding vaccination were satisfied (30%) and happy (31%), whereas the top emotions for Black respondents were satisfied (27%), indifferent (24%) and afraid (24%).
• Of the 55% of Black respondents that gave a reason for vaccine refusal, 28% indicated novelty as the reason for vaccine refusal, 7% indicated side effects, and 7% indicated vaccine trust (the remaining % was mixed).

“The Black community has a long, documented history of mistreatment at the hands of public health authorities, and overcoming their rightful hesitancy will be essential to bringing Covid 19 under control with the rollout of vaccines,” said Dr. Thaddeus John Bell, MD, CEO and Founder of Closing the Gap in Health Care, a non-profit organization created to decrease health disparities by providing health education for African Americans and other under-served populations. “By using behavioral health data to understand vaccine hesitancy across populations, we’re hoping to help the entire nation make get through our current hardships to a better day.”

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