American Journal of Public Health
Volume 105, Issue 9 (September 2015)
http://ajph.aphapublications.org/toc/ajph/current

.
The Impact of Vaccine Concerns on Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Influenza Vaccine Uptake Among Health Care Workers
Rohit P. Ojha, Sericea Stallings-Smith, Patricia M. Flynn, Elisabeth E. Adderson, Tabatha N. Offutt-Powell, Aditya H. Gaur
American Journal of Public Health: September 2015, Vol. 105, No. 9: e35–e41.
Abstract
Objectives. We explored whether collective concerns about the safety, effectiveness, and necessity of influenza vaccines mediate racial/ethnic disparities in vaccine uptake among health care workers (HCWs).
Methods. We used a self-administered Web-based survey to assess race/ethnicity (exposure), concerns about influenza vaccination (mediator; categorized through latent class analysis), and influenza vaccine uptake (outcome) for the 2012 to 2013 influenza season among HCWs at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. We used mediation analysis to estimate prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the total, direct, and indirect effects of race/ethnicity on influenza vaccine uptake.
Results. Non-Hispanic Blacks had lower influenza vaccine uptake than non-Hispanic Whites (total effect: PR = 0.87; 95% CI = 0.75, 0.99), largely mediated by high concern about influenza vaccines (natural indirect effect: PR = 0.89; 95% CI = 0.84, 0.94; controlled direct effect: PR = 0.98; 95% CI = 0.85, 1.1). Hispanic and Asian HCWs had modestly lower uptake than non-Hispanic Whites, also mediated by high concern about influenza vaccines.
Conclusions. Racial/ethnic disparities among HCWs could be attenuated if concerns about the safety, effectiveness, and necessity of influenza vaccines were reduced.

Understanding Trends in Pertussis Incidence: An Agent-Based Model Approach
Erinn Sanstead, Cynthia Kenyon, Seth Rowley, Eva Enns, Claudia Miller, Kristen Ehresmann, Shalini Kulasingam
American Journal of Public Health: September 2015, Vol. 105, No. 9: e42–e47.

Unintended Consequences of Screening for Ebola
Laura Johnson Faherty, Chyke A. Doubeni
American Journal of Public Health: September 2015, Vol. 105, No. 9: 1738–1739.

Public Health Intelligence: Learning From the Ebola Crisis
Timothy Jay Carney, David Jay Weber
American Journal of Public Health: September 2015, Vol. 105, No. 9: 1740–1744.