Personal | “I'm immunocompromised, so [vaccines] are incredibly important to me because if I catch something, it can be much more severe. It’s important to me to get vaccines to minimize any serious illness.” | 22 (97) |
Societal | “There’s of course the societal impact, for instance if I’m protecting myself with the vaccine, I’m preventing the spread of it to somebody else.” | 15 (65) |
Fulfil Requirement | “I know that some countries you can't visit unless you have certain shots.” | 2 (9) |
Theme: Risk of Vaccination | |
Side effects | “I know you can get some symptoms afterwards, but when I got the first booster, I had really bad symptoms, like, fever, sweats, and chills.” | 11 (48) |
None/ unknown | “I'm sure there are. I'm not too sure about the side effects. It's not always foolproof, and I'm sure there are risks, but for me that's just not something I've ever experienced.” | 4 (17) |
Allergic Reactions | “Less people have allergic reactions to [vaccines] and some of the variants” | 4 (17) |
Uncertainty/ Unseen future risks | “I think there's not enough information that's known about how it will react with people.” | 3 (13) |
Causes new illness / Exacerbation of chronic diseases | “Some people say that others may develop issues, like heart issues, I've heard about that too.” | 2 (9) |
Lack of safety | “I’ve heard lots of things regarding different vaccines. I haven't done deeper research about that. So, I cannot tell that it's 100% safe” | 1 (4) |
Theme: Barriers to Vaccination |
Limited access to health care | “I’m sure there are other economic barriers, like if you don't have health insurance or aren't regularly seeing a doctor, then that would probably be a barrier to it.” | 17 (74) |
Misinformation | “I think also I think there's a lot of misinformation out there that is easily accessible for people” | 10 (43) |
Limited availability / Access to vaccine | “I think supply and demand. I know when the COVID shot first came out it was very hard to get one because so many people wanted it.” | 8 (35) |
Distrust | “Distrust of the health care either from a perspective of being in a community that has reason to distrust some medical things or being in a community that may have general distrust of government and regulations.” | 3 (13) |
Religious/Social barriers/pressures | “Religious exceptions for certain vaccines, but I don't know enough about individual types of religion that that would prohibit it.” | 3 (13) |
Fear/concern of side effects | “I would also say a fear of needles because that's definitely come into play in the past with me.” | 2 (9) |
Allergies | “I feel like people with allergic reactions might have barriers.” | 1 (4) |
Theme: Impact of HS on Vaccine Decision Making |
None | “I don't think about vaccines at all related to HS” | 11 (48) |
More likely to get vaccines | “I know that my immunity is compromised, and so, I am much more aware of and likely to take vaccines than a typical healthy person.” | 6 (26) |
Vaccine may worsen/flare chronic diseases, including HS | “I got the flu vaccine once and my HS erupted. I assume it’s because of my antibodies, like the immune deposits.” | 4 (17) |
Increased susceptibility to illness | “I don't want it to interact with the Humira, which is helping my HS, but it's making my entire body weaker. For example, I might feel a little headache or a little something after I take the vaccine.” | 2 (9) |
Theme: Knowledge about HPV vaccine |
I do not know about the vaccine | “I've heard of it and that's it. I don't know anything else. I didn't get it.” | 16 (70) |
I know about the vaccine | “It can prevent HPV and cancer” | 7 (30) |