More than 60 percent of US Latinos worry about missing work to get vaccine: poll

More than 60 percent of Latino Americans worry about missing work to get vaccinated for COVID-19, according to a poll from Kaiser Family Foundation published Thursday.

Forty-seven percent of Latino adults surveyed said they have already received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

One-third of unvaccinated Latino adults said they wanted a vaccine as soon as possible, and 17 percent said they definitely would not get vaccinated.

Of those that have not been vaccinated, 64 percent said they are concerned about missing work due to the vaccine side effects that could include aches, a fever and fatigue.

Among those who have not yet been vaccinated but want to do so right away, 61 percent had a concern about out-of-pocket costs, while 52 percent said they were concerned about missing work to deal with the side effect of the vaccine.

Over half of employed, unvaccinated Latino adults surveyed said they would be more inclined to get vaccinated if their job gave them paid time off for vaccination and recovery from the potential side effects.

Communities of color have been disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, in part because many people work in essential jobs that cannot be done from home and live in larger, multigenerational households.

Kaiser’s survey sought to highlight the unique concerns of Latinos in the U.S. regarding the pandemic and vaccination. 

For example, the poll found that over half of those who had not gotten the jab were unaware that immigration status is not a barrier to getting vaccinated.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that compared to white, non-Hispanic Americans, Hispanic or Latino persons are two times as likely to contract COVID-19, three times as likely to be hospitalized and 2.3 times as likely to die from the disease.

Yet, CDC data on the Americans who have received at least one vaccine dose shows that 13 percent are Hispanic and 62 percent are white.

Kaiser surveyed 2,097 adults, including 778 Hispanic adults and 507 non-Hispanic Black adults from April 15-19. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

–Updated at 11:31 a.m.