Getting the Message Right: Nurses and Vaccine Hesitancy

One of the most comprehensive national studies of COVID-19 vaccination among nurses is helping set the record straight by correcting a common media narrative about vaccine hesitancy in the nursing community. 

Published in The American Journal of Public Health, the study found a 93% overall vaccination rate among U.S. nurses. For UCLA Nursing Asst. Professor Kristen Choi, PhD, RN, FAAN, it’s important data after years of negative media coverage around nurses and the vaccine. 

“I found it really disheartening to see negative media messages about nurses and COVID-19 vaccines, where non-representative and extreme cases of nurses who refused to be vaccinated seemed to receive the most attention,” said Choi, who co-authored an editorial on the importance of this new study. “Part of the reason why this narrative was so upsetting was that I, alongside hundreds of nursing professionals, spent countless hours giving COVID vaccines in every corner of Los Angeles. No one was more dedicated to COVID-19 vaccination than nurses and this study finally gets the message right.”

Read the full editorial here.