Summary: Influenza vaccination among minoritized groups remains below
federal benchmarks in the United States (U.S.). Authors used data from the
2004–2016 California Health Interview Surveys (CHIS) to characterize influenza
vaccination patterns among Arab Americans in California. Influenza vaccination
was self-reported by Arab American adults (N = 1163) and non-Hispanic
Whites (NHW, N = 166,955).
Findings: Across all years, 30.3% of Arab Americans self-reported
receiving an influenza vaccine (vs. 40.5% for NHW).
After sequential adjustment by sociodemographic, health behavior, and
acculturation variables no differences in odds of self-reported influenza
vaccination were observed between Arab Americans and NHW. Male and unemployed Arab Americans had higher
odds of reporting influenza vaccination than female and employed Arab
Americans.
Future work should consider specific barriers
to influenza vaccination in Arab American communities.