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 and non-Hispanic whites.
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.
