Background: During the rollout of COVID-19 vaccination, many states relaxed mask wearing guidance for those vaccinated. The aim of this study was to examine the association between vaccination status and mask wearing behaviors.
Methods: Seven waves of surveys (n = 6721) were conducted between August 2020 and June 2021. Participants were asked about initiation of COVID-19 vaccination and mask wearing behavior at work/school or a grocery store. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) from logistic regression were used to estimate associations between vaccination status and mask wearing at work/school and at the grocery store.
Results: Between April and June 2021, mask wearing at work or school declined among both those vaccinated (74% to 49%) and unvaccinated (46% to 35%). There was a similar decline for mask wearing at grocery stores. The odds of wearing a mask were 2.35 times higher at work/school (95% CI: 1.82, 3.04) and 1.65 times at a grocery store (95% CI: 1.29, 2.11) among the vaccinated compared to unvaccinated.
Conclusion: Mask wearing decreased after mask guidelines were relaxed, with consistently lower mask wearing among the unvaccinated, indicating a reluctance among the unvaccinated to adopt COVID-19 risk reduction behaviors.
Keywords: Pandemic; masks; schools; supermarkets; vaccine hesitancy.