Date of Conferral

10-4-2024

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Public Health

Advisor

Jeanne Connors

Abstract

Since its global outbreak in 2022, the monkeypox (Mpox) virus has infected over 32,000 individuals in the United States, resulting in approximately 58 deaths. Although the JYNNEOS vaccine is effective at disease prevention, it has also been found to cause side effects, such as a disruption in daily activities and/or attendance at work or school. This quantitative, cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate whether differences existed in reactions to the Mpox vaccine, using secondary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s V-safe Mpox survey. The two dependent variables were work/school absenteeism and disruption of daily activities, and the independent variables were gender, age, and race. The health belief model was used as a theoretical framework to ground the study. Chi-square and Fisher-Freeman-Halton exact tests indicated that there were no statistically significant differences or relationships between genders or race on the outcome of absences following Mpox vaccine side effects (p > .05). Gender had a statistically significant relationship with the outcome of a disruption of daily activities (p = .042), but race did not (p > .05). Multiple logistics regression failed to find differences between the independent variables and absences (p > .05). However, males were 4 times more likely to have a disruption of daily activities (p = .042; Exp (B): 4.048; 95% CI 1.053-15.557) and unknown gender was ~15 times more likely to (p = .009; Exp (B): 14.529; 95% CI 1.969-107.200); age and race were not significant (p > .05). These results may promote positive social change by better informing and empowering public health officials in their targeted vaccine outreach efforts to increase adherence, which may reduce Mpox’s burden on the community.

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