Vaccine
Volume 35, Issue 4, Pages 503-712 (23 January 2017)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0264410X/35/4

Brief report
Interest in an Ebola vaccine among a U.S. national sample during the height of the 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa
Pages 508-512
Julia E. Painter, Ralph J. DiClemente, Michael E. von Fricken

Abstract
To better understand the association between Ebola-related attitudes and interest in receiving an Ebola virus vaccine, a survey was administered to a U.S. national sample using GfK’s KnowledgePanel®. Among participants (N = 1417), 34.1% expressed interest in an Ebola vaccine for themselves. In the subset of participants with children aged 0–17 (N = 410), 38.1% expressed interest in an Ebola vaccine for their child. In multivariable analyses, vaccine interest for oneself was associated with perceived susceptibility to Ebola (p = 0.009), beliefs that the U.S. government should spend money to control Ebola (p = 0.002), and beliefs Ebola posed a national threat (p = 0.007). Vaccine interest for one’s child was associated with perceived severity of Ebola (p = 0.018) and beliefs that the U.S. government should spend money to control Ebola (p = 0.003). Findings highlight the influence of personal and national threat beliefs on vaccine interest. Understanding the impact of threat beliefs may benefit vaccine campaign development during future pandemic threats