Vaccine Hesitancy for COVID-19: County and local estimates

Due to the change in the survey instrument regarding intention to vaccinate, our estimates for “hesitant or unsure” or “hesitant” derived from April 14-26, 2021, are not directly comparable with prior Household Pulse Survey data and should not be used to examine trends in hesitancy.

To support state and local communication and outreach efforts, ASPE developed state, county, and sub-state level predictions of hesitancy rates (https://aspe.hhs.gov/pdf-report/vaccine-hesitancy) using the most recently available federal survey data.

We estimate hesitancy rates at the state level using the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey (HPS) (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/household-pulse-survey.html) data and utilize the estimated values to predict hesitancy rates at the Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMA) level using the Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS)(https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/microdata.html). To create county-level estimates, we used a PUMA-to-county crosswalk from the Missouri Census Data Center(https://mcdc.missouri.edu/applications/geocorr2014.html). PUMAs spanning multiple counties had their estimates apportioned across those counties based on overall 2010 Census populations.

The HPS is nationally representative and includes information on U.S. residents’ intentions to receive the COVID-19 vaccine when available, as well as other sociodemographic and geographic (state, region and metropolitan statistical areas) information. The ACS is a nationally representative survey, and it provides key sociodemographic and geographic (state, region, PUMAs, county) information. We utilized data for the survey collection period May 26, 2021 – June 7, 2021, which the HPS refers to as Week 31..

PUMA COVID-19 Hesitancy Data - https://data.cdc.gov/Vaccinations/Vaccine-Hesitancy-for-COVID-19-Public-Use-Microdat/djj9-kh3p