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Marini M, Demichelis A, Menicagli D, Mancini G, Panizza F, Bilancini E, Cevolani G. I want to be safe: understanding the main drivers behind vaccination choice throughout the pandemic. BMC Public Health 2024; 24:1111. [PMID: 38649925 PMCID: PMC11036553 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-024-18511-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2023] [Accepted: 04/03/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Despite being a major advancement in modern medicine, vaccines face widespread hesitancy and refusal, posing challenges to immunization campaigns. The COVID-19 pandemic accentuated vaccine hesitancy, emphasizing the pivotal role of beliefs in efficacy and safety on vaccine acceptance rates. This study explores the influence of efficacy and safety perceptions on vaccine uptake in Italy during the pandemic. METHODS We administered a 70-item questionnaire to a representative sample of 600 Italian speakers. Participants were tasked with assessing the perceived effectiveness and safety of each vaccine dose, along with providing reasons influencing their vaccination choices. Additionally, we conducted an experimental manipulation, exploring the effects of four framing messages that emphasized safety and/or efficacy on participants' willingness to receive a hypothetical fourth vaccine dose. Furthermore, participants were asked about their level of trust in the scientific community and public authorities, as well as their use of different information channels for obtaining COVID-19-related information. RESULTS Our study reveals a dynamic shift in vaccine efficacy and safety perceptions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially influencing vaccination compliance. Initially perceived as more effective than safe, this assessment reversed by the time of the third dose. Beliefs regarding safety, rather than efficacy, played a significant role in anticipating future vaccinations (e.g., the booster dose). Safety-focused messages positively affected vaccination intent, while efficacy-focused messages showed limited impact. We also observed a changing trend in reasons for vaccination, with a decline in infection-related reasons and an increase in social related ones. Furthermore, trust dynamics evolved differently for public authorities and the scientific community. CONCLUSIONS Vaccine perception is a dynamic process shaped by evolving factors like efficacy and safety perceptions, trust levels, and individual motivations. Our study sheds light on the complex dynamics that underlie the perception of vaccine safety and efficacy, and their impact on willingness to vaccinate. We discuss these results in light of bounded rationality, loss aversion and classic utility theory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Marini
- IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Lucca, Italy.
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Su Y, Li S, Huang F, Xue J, Zhu T. Exploring the Influencing Factors of COVID-19 Vaccination Willingness among Young Adults in China. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2023; 20:3960. [PMID: 36900971 PMCID: PMC10001881 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20053960] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2022] [Revised: 02/10/2023] [Accepted: 02/20/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Vaccine uptake is considered as one of the most effective methods of defending against COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019). However, many young adults are hesitant regarding COVID-19 vaccines, and they actually play an important role in virus transmission. Based on a multi-theory model, this study aims to explore the influencing factors related to COVID-19 vaccine willingness among young adults in China. Using semi-structured interviews, this study explored the factors that would motivate young adults with vaccine hesitancy to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview data with topic modeling as a complementarity method. After comparing the differences and similarities of results generated by thematic analysis and topic modeling, this study ultimately identified ten key factors related to COVID-19 vaccination intention, including the effectiveness and safety of vaccines, application range of vaccine, etc. This study combined thematic analysis with machine learning and provided a comprehensive and nuanced picture of facilitating factors for COVID-19 vaccine uptake among Chinese young adults. Results may be taken as potential themes for authorities and public health workers in vaccination campaigns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue Su
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Sijia Li
- Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Feng Huang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Jia Xue
- Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada
- Faculty of Information, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada
| | - Tingshao Zhu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
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Xu X, Bian J, Guo Z, Li X, Zhang W, Wang B, Sun Y, Meng X, Zou H. Uptake of COVID-19 Vaccination and Its Associated Factors among College Students in China: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2023; 20:2951. [PMID: 36833647 PMCID: PMC9961598 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20042951] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2023] [Revised: 02/02/2023] [Accepted: 02/02/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Our study aims to assess the uptake of COVID-19 vaccination and its associated factors among Chinese college students. A web-based cross-sectional study was conducted from 18 May to 17 June 2022. A total of 3916 participants were included. The coverage of the first dose, complete vaccination and booster vaccination among college students was 99.49%, 81.96% and 79.25%, respectively. College students with an older age (AOR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.57-0.90), non-medical major (0.47, 0.37-0.61) and studying in north-east China (0.35, 0.22-0.58) were less likely to complete vaccination. Individuals who were female (1.62, 1.35-1.94) and received a recombinant subunit vaccine (8.05, 5.21-12.45) were more likely to complete vaccination. Non-medical students (0.56, 0.43-0.73) and students studying in north-east China (0.28, 0.16-0.49) were less likely to receive a booster dose, while female students (1.51, 1.23-1.85) had a higher likelihood. The main reason for being unvaccinated was "contraindication" (75.00%), and the main reason for not receiving a booster dose was "being too busy to attend to it" (61.37%). This study demonstrated a high adherence to the COVID-19 vaccination policy among Chinese college students. Targeted strategies should be applied to remove barriers to COVID-19 vaccination among college students.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuelian Xu
- School of Literature and Education, Bengbu University, Bengbu 233030, China
| | - Junye Bian
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, China
| | - Zhihui Guo
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, China
| | - Xinyi Li
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, China
| | - Weijie Zhang
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, China
| | - Bingyi Wang
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, China
| | - Yinghui Sun
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, China
| | - Xiaojun Meng
- Wuxi Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Wuxi 214023, China
| | - Huachun Zou
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, China
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Ding J, Wang A, Zhang Q. Mining the vaccination willingness of China using social media data. Int J Med Inform 2023; 170:104941. [PMID: 36502742 PMCID: PMC9724503 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2022.104941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2022] [Revised: 10/15/2022] [Accepted: 11/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Vaccination is one of the most powerful and effective protective measures against Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Currently, several blogs hold content on vaccination attitudes expressed on social media platforms, especially Sina Weibo, which is one of the largest social media platforms in China. Therefore, Weibo is a good data source for investigating public opinions about vaccination attitudes. In this paper, we aimed to effectively mine blogs to quantify the willingness of the public to get the COVID-19 vaccine. MATERIALS AND METHODS First, data including 144,379 Chinese blogs from Weibo, were collected between March 24 and April 28, 2021. The data were cleaned and preprocessed to ensure the quality of the experimental data, thereby reducing it to an experimental dataset of 72,496 blogs. Second, we employed a new fusion sentiment analysis model to analyze the sentiments of each blog. Third, the public's willingness to get the COVID-19 vaccine was quantified using the organic fusion of sentiment distribution and information dissemination effect. RESULTS (1) The intensity of bloggers' sentiment toward COVID-19 vaccines changed over time. (2) The extremum of positive and negative sentiment intensities occurred when hot topics related to vaccines appeared. (3) The study revealed that the public's willingness to get the COVID-19 vaccine and the actual vaccination doses shares a linear relationship. CONCLUSION We proposed a method for quantifying the public's vaccination willingness from social media data. The effectiveness of the method was demonstrated by a significant consistency between the estimates of public vaccination willingness and actual COVID-19 vaccination doses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiaming Ding
- School of Management, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China; Key Laboratory of Process Optimization and Intelligent Decision-making, Ministry of Education, Hefei 230009, China
| | - Anning Wang
- School of Management, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China; Key Laboratory of Process Optimization and Intelligent Decision-making, Ministry of Education, Hefei 230009, China.
| | - Qiang Zhang
- School of Management, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China; Key Laboratory of Process Optimization and Intelligent Decision-making, Ministry of Education, Hefei 230009, China
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Lin Y, Huang Z, Xu X, Du W, Alias H, Hu Z, Wong LP. Multi-dimensional psychosocial factors influencing the willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster: A survey among the public in Mainland China. Hum Vaccin Immunother 2022; 18:2126667. [PMID: 36165498 DOI: 10.1080/21645515.2022.2126667] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate multi-dimensional psychological and social factors that influence the willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster in China. A nationwide cross-sectional online survey was conducted between March and April 2022. A total of 6375 complete responses were received. The majority were of age 18 to 40 years old (80.0%) and college-educated (49.2%). In total, 79% responded extremely willing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster. By demographics, younger age, females, higher education, and participants with the lowest income reported higher willingness. Having a very good health status (odds ratio [OR] 3.56, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.92-4.34) and a higher score of vaccine confidence (OR 3.50, 95% CI 2.98-4.11) were associated with an increased willingness to receive a booster shot. Experiencing no side effects with primary COVID-19 vaccination (OR 2.46, 95% CI 1.89-3.20) and higher perceived susceptibility of COVID-19 infection (OR 2.38, 95% CI 1.92-2.95) were also associated with an increased willingness to receive a booster shot. A variety of psychosocial factors, namely having no chronic diseases, lower perceived concern over the safety of a booster shot, higher perceived severity of COVID-19 infection, and a higher level of institutional trust, were also significantly associated with greater willingness to get a booster shot. In conclusion, the present study adds evidence to the significant role of psychosocial factors in predicting COVID-19 vaccine booster acceptance and provides insights to design interventions to increase booster uptake in certain targeted demographic groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yulan Lin
- Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, FJ, China
| | - Zhiwen Huang
- Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, FJ, China
| | - Xiaonan Xu
- Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, FJ, China
| | - Wei Du
- School of Medicine and Health Management, Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, GZ, China.,Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Practice, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Haridah Alias
- Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Practice, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Zhijian Hu
- Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, FJ, China
| | - Li Ping Wong
- Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, FJ, China.,Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Practice, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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Ochnik D, Rogowska AM, Benatov J, Arzenšek A. Adaptation and Preliminary Validation of the Fear of Coronavirus Vaccination Scale in the Prospective Study among a Representative Sample of Polish, Israeli, Slovenian, and German Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:ijerph191811587. [PMID: 36141859 PMCID: PMC9517357 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph191811587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2022] [Revised: 09/03/2022] [Accepted: 09/09/2022] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
Although concerns about harm and side effects are among the most important factors determining vaccine hesitancy, research on the fear of vaccination is sparse. The purpose of this study is a validation the Fear of Coronavirus Vaccination Scale (FoCVVS), adapted from the Fear of COVID-19 Scale. A representative sample of 1723 young adults aged 20-40 from Poland, Israel, Slovenia, and Germany participated during two time-points of the third COVID-19 pandemic wave. The online survey included demographic variables and several well-being dimensions, including gender, vaccination status, fear of coronavirus (FoCV-19S), physical health (GSRH), life satisfaction (SWLS), and perceived stress (PSS-10), anxiety (GAD-7), and depression (PHQ-9). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed at T1, and confirmatory analysis (CFA) at T2. The second-order two-factor structure demonstrated the best fit and very good discriminant and convergent validation. The general factor of the FoCVVS included two subscales assessing the emotional and physiological symptoms of fear of vaccination. Unvaccinated people showed higher levels of fear of vaccination than those vaccinated. A vaccination status, fear of vaccination T1, and fear of COVID-19 T1 were significant predictors of fear of vaccination T2. Vaccination-promoting programs should be focused on decreasing fear and enhancing the beneficial effects of vaccination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dominika Ochnik
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Technology, 40-555 Katowice, Poland
| | | | - Joy Benatov
- Department of Special Education, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
| | - Ana Arzenšek
- Faculty of Management, University of Primorska, 6101 Koper, Slovenia
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