COVID-19 vaccine acceptability among US firefighters and emergency medical services workers

Objectives: Estimate the point prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine acceptability among US firefighters and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) workers. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used to administer an anonymous online survey to a national non-probabilistic sample of firefighter and EMS workers. Results: Among the 3169 respondents, 48.2% expressed high acceptability of the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available, while 24.2% were unsure and 27.6% reported low acceptability. Using the ''high COVID-19 vaccine acceptability'' group as the reference category, the groups with greater odds of reporting low acceptability included those: 30 to 39 years of age (odds ratio=3.62 [95% confidence interval=2.00 to 6.55]), Black race (3.60 [1.12 to 11.53]), Hispanic/Latinx ethnicity (2.39 [1.45 to 3.92]), with some college education (2.06 [1.29 to 3.27]), married (1.65 [1.03 to 2.65]), of current rank firefighter/EMS (2.21 [1.60 to 3.08]). Conclusions: Over half of US firefighters and EMS workers were uncertain or reported low acceptability of the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available.