Aussies who inject drugs hesitant about COVID-19 jabs

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-02-22 03:00

Australia; NSW; VIC; QLD; WA

Photo by Mufid Majnun on Unsplash

Almost a third of people who inject drugs in Australia are resistant to taking COVID-19 vaccines and a further third are hesitant, according to Australian researchers. The team recruited about 900 people who inject drugs for interviews about their views on COVID-19 vaccination. They say people who had unstable housing, were younger and mostly used methamphetamine were likely to be less willing to get a COVID-19 vaccine. They say those who were vaccine hesitant were likely to express a lack of trust in the government and a belief that COVID-19 is not severe.

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Journal/
conference: Drug and Alcohol Review

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), The University of New South Wales, Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, National Drug Research Institute (NDRI), Monash University, The University of Queensland

Funder: The Drug Trends program (including the Illicit Drug Reporting System), the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre and the National Drug Research Institute are funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. Olivia Price is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council postgraduate scholarship and a National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre higher degree research top-up scholarship. Lisa Maher, Paul Dietze, Gregory J. Dore and Amy Peacock are supported by National Health and Medical Research Council fellowships (#1154839, #1136908, #2008276, and #1174630)

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