Pandemic Pregnancy Experiences and Risk Mitigation Behaviors: COVID-19 Vaccination Uptake in Canada
2025
Sigourney Shaw-Churchill | Karen P. Phillips
Background: Pregnant people in Canada during the pandemic faced complex decision-making related to COVID-19 exposure risks and the safety of mitigation measures, including vaccines. To help inform future infectious disease&ndash:health promotion, we assessed pandemic pregnancy experiences and COVID-19 risk mitigation strategies. Methods: Respondents, pregnant at any time after January 2020 in Canada, completed an online, cross-sectional, descriptive survey from September 2021 to February 2022. Logistic regression was used to identify predictive factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine uptake and history of infection. Results: A purposive sample of predominantly non-racialized, high socioeconomic status women (n = 564), 58.2% primigravid during the pandemic, reported high COVID-19 vaccine uptake (87.4%). Educational attainment beyond high school predicted COVID-19 vaccination (college AOR: 2.72, CI: 1.24&ndash:5.94, p <: 0.001: university AOR 4.01, CI: 1.91&ndash:8.40, p <: 0.001: post-graduate university AOR: 7.31, CI: 2.84&ndash:18.81, p <: 0.001). Immigrant status reduced the likelihood of COVID-19 vaccination (AOR: 0.20: CI: 0.09&ndash:0.49, p <: 0.001). Racialized participants were 2.78-fold more likely to report infection (CI:1.19&ndash:6.50, p = 0.018). Conclusions: COVID-19 vaccination uptake was very high: however, vaccine hesitancy was evident among immigrants, with racialized participants more likely to report a history of COVID-19 infection. Tailored public health messaging using a health equity lens may yield more robust vaccine uptake for future infectious respiratory disease outbreaks.
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