A cross-sectional survey of 650 pregnant and postpartum women in the United States, running from June 2023 to June 2024, tested whether awareness of RSV translated into maternal vaccination equally across racial and ethnic groups. The interaction between awareness and group was significant, with awareness associated with a 26.4 percentage point rise in vaccination probability among White women and 23.2 points among Black women, against a non-significant 6.9 points among Hispanic women. Influenza vaccine acceptance, underlying conditions, a health care background and perceived quality of treatment were each independent predictors.
Why it is interesting: It suggests the ethnic gap in a new maternal vaccine is not explained by differences in awareness alone.