Linking the behavioral immune system to COVID-19 vaccination intention: The mediating role of the need for cognitive closure and vaccine hesitancy

Dataset on a reliability generalization meta-analysis of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy scale

The Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Scale is a 7-item psychometric scale developed by Freeman and colleagues a year after detecting the first case of the disease in 2019. The scale assesses people's thoughts, feelings, and behavior toward COVID-19 vaccines. A comprehensive search of major electronic databases, including Scopus, Clarivate Analytics, and PubMed, was conducted to extract eligible articles for inclusion in this meta-analysis. This paper reports information on data collected for a reliability generalization meta-analysis of the Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Scale. The dataset incorporates information on the average reliability of the scale as measured with Cronbach's alpha in 20 studies included in the meta-analysis. Several benefits can be derived from the dataset. In particular, the research community would find this dataset beneficial as it can enhance their understanding of the health challenges of COVID-19, helping them come up with better solutions to eradicate the disease.

COVID-19 vaccination and the behavioral immune system: The newcomer and the old friend get along in preventing infection

Despite its old evolutionary history and emotional relevance, the behavioral immune system is one of the less studied individual predictors of vaccine uptake. To fill the gap, we conducted a large online study (2072 participants) during the spring 2022 when the great majority of the Italian population had already received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Hierarchical binary logistic regression showed that, after controlling for the confounding effects of demographic and personality factors, there was a significant and positive association between pathogen disgust sensitivity and COVID-19 vaccine uptake (OR, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.42-1.99). The likelihood of being vaccinated for a participant with the highest possible score on the PVD Germ Aversion scale was approximately 12 times higher than the likelihood for a participant with the lowest possible score. Public health messaging could leverage the activation of the behavioral immune system as an emotional driver of vaccine uptake.

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: A Systematic review of cognitive determinants

Background: Although mass vaccination is considered one of the most effective public health strategies during the pandemic, in the COVID-19 era, many people considered vaccines unnecessary and, or doubted the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine. This review aimed to tabulate cognitive causes of COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy, which may help public health policymakers overcome the barriers to mass vaccinations in future pandemics. Methods: For this systematic review, studies pertaining to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy published up to June 2022 were retrieved from six online databases (Cochrane Library, Google Scholar Medline through PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science). Inclusion criteria were the studies conducted on people who had a delay in accepting or refusing COVID-19 vaccines, reported the impact of cognitive determinants on vaccine hesitancy, and were written in English in the timeframe of 2020-2022. Results: This systematic review initially reviewed 1171 records. From these 91 articles met the inclusion criteria. The vaccination hesitation rate was 29.72% on average. This systematic review identified several cognitive determinants influencing vaccination hesitancy. Lack of confidence and complacency were the most frequent factors that predicted vaccine hesitancy. Conclusion: The identified prevailing cognitive determinants for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy indicated that using initiative and effective communication strategies would be a determinant factor in building people's trust in vaccines during the pandemic and mass vaccinations.

COVID-19 vaccine-hesitancy is associated with lower cortical volume in elderly individuals

Background

According to a large number of scientific reports, the main problem is COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy which slowed down the vaccination program. Previous studies revealed that COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is associated with lower cognitive performance. However, the neurobiology of such behavior is less known, and investigating the brain structural patterns in this regard can extend our knowledge on the basis of this behavior. This study aimed to investigate the link between brain structural features including cortical and subcortical volume with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in elderly individuals.

Methods

A total of 221 healthy subjects without any cognitive impairment with a mean age of 63.7 ± 6.1 were obtained from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database. Overall, 87 vaccine-hesitant (VH) and 134 vaccine-accepted (VA) were entered into this study. The difference in the volume of cortical and subcortical regions was investigated between VH and VA groups.

Results

There was no significant difference in cognitive status measured by MMSE, MoCA, ADAS-cog, and RAVLT between VA and VH groups (P>0.05). The analysis showed that VA subjects had significantly higher left pars orbitalis (P: 0.013), left precentral (P: 0.042), right caudal anterior cingulate (P: 0.044), and right isthmus cingulate (P: 0.013) volume compared to the VH group. There was no significant difference in other cortical and subcortical regions.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this finding demonstrated that in the era of complicated decision-making due to social media reports, elderly adults with smaller frontal and cingulate regions are more likely to be vaccine-hesitant. These findings can highlight the link between cortical regions and health-protective behaviors such as taking up the offer of vaccination.

COVID-19 vaccination intention: The combined role of pathogen disgust and trust in government

The present study aimed to investigate the joint effect of pathogen disgust and trust in government on COVID-19 vaccination intention and to examine the mediating role of COVID-19 worry. The data was collected from July to September 2021 in mainland China by using Questionnaire Star, 2,244 valid cases were obtained among a total of 2,251 participants investigated, with an effective rate of 89.37%. The results indicated the following: (1) Individuals' COVID-19 vaccination intention was significantly higher when "congruence was high" than when "congruence was low", given comparable levels of pathogen disgust and trust in government. (2) There were no significant differences in individual COVID-19 vaccination intention with incongruence levels of pathogen disgust and trust in government. (3) The combination of pathogen disgust and trust in government can influence COVID-19 vaccination intention through COVID-19 worry. Findings illustrate that individuals with high trust in government and pathogen disgust have higher intentions. Trust in government and pathogen disgust positively predicted COVID-19 worry and reinforced individuals' intention to COVID-19 vaccination. The results have important implications for the future prevention and control of the new coronavirus, as well as providing a new perspective on COVID-19 vaccination intentions.

A systematic literature review to clarify the concept of vaccine hesitancy

Vaccine hesitancy (VH) is considered a top-10 global health threat. The concept of VH has been described and applied inconsistently. This systematic review aims to clarify VH by analysing how it is operationalized. We searched PubMed, Embase and PsycINFO databases on 14 January 2022. We selected 422 studies containing operationalizations of VH for inclusion. One limitation is that studies of lower quality were not excluded. Our qualitative analysis reveals that VH is conceptualized as involving (1) cognitions or affect, (2) behaviour and (3) decision making. A wide variety of methods have been used to measure VH. Our findings indicate the varied and confusing use of the term VH, leading to an impracticable concept. We propose that VH should be defined as a state of indecisiveness regarding a vaccination decision.

The mediating role of product judgment and country of origin effect on health literacy and behavioral intention: A study on COVID-19 vaccines perception of Turkish consumers

This study is conducted on people in Turkey who had at least one dose of vaccination and it evaluates their differences in attitude in terms of health literacy, product judgment, the country of origin, intention to recommend and motivation to boycott. The 393 vaccine consumers were selected through convenient sampling and the data was collected through online questionnaires. The data was later analyzed by SPSS and AMOS. Normality, reliability tests and frequency analysis were conducted on the data. Afterward, a correlation was calculated using factor loadings to determine the relationship between the variables. The last was conducting the PATH analysis. Some consumers are prejudiced toward COVID-19 vaccines due to perceived distrust, hesitation, and lack of product information. Determining the prejudices of consumers, underlying causes and making inferences will provide more useful information on COVID-19 vaccines to health institutions, vaccine manufacturers, consumers and other organizations.

The behavioral immune system in action: Psychological correlates of pathogen disgust sensitivity in healthcare professionals working in a COVID-19 hospital

The behavioral immune system includes a set of proactive mechanisms that inhibit contact with pathogens in the first place. These mechanisms offer a sort of psychological and behavioral prophylaxis against infection. The aim of this study was to assess the functionality of the behavioral immune system under conditions of strong ecological validity. Our hypothesis was that the emotional and more primitive component of the behavioral immune system (i.e. pathogen disgust sensitivity) acts as a powerful predictor of fear of infection. The sample was made up of 101 healthcare professionals working in a COVID-19 hospital when vaccination was not yet available. We conducted a hierarchical regression analysis to assess the role of germ-related disgust in modulating levels of fear. After controlling for the significant effects of depressive symptoms and exposure to people with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, we found that fear of infection was more intense in those healthcare workers who reported higher levels of germ-related disgust. Fear of infection was not related to perceived infectability, an individual variable informed by more rational cognitive appraisals. These findings show that, even in healthcare workers who can take advantage of their professional knowledge and acquired skills for rational appraisals, the most primitive component of the behavioral immune system still plays a major role in eliciting fear of COVID-19. It is likely that the psychological reactions elicited by the behavioral immune system promote preventive health behaviors in modern environments as well.

COVID-19: Why Do People Refuse Vaccination? The Role of Social Identities and Conspiracy Beliefs: Evidence from Nationwide Samples of Polish Adults

In the present research, we focus on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, and empirically examine how different forms of social identity (defensive vs. secure national identity and identification with all humanity) and conspiracy beliefs are associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. In two cross-sectional nationwide surveys (Study 1, n = 432, and Study 2, n = 807), we found that willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 was negatively linked to national narcissism, but positively related to a secure national identification, that is, national identification without the narcissistic component. In both studies, we also found that the relationship between narcissistic (vs. secure) national identity and unwillingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 was mediated by COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy beliefs. These effects were present even when we accounted for basic demographics (Studies 1 and 2) and identification with all humanity (Study 2), which had been found to be a significant predictor of health behaviors during COVID-19. In line with previous research, identification with all humanity was positively associated with the willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19. We discuss the implications for understanding the role of the way in which people identify with their national and supranational groups in antiscience attitudes and (mal)adaptive behaviors during COVID-19 pandemic.