Stress Trauma and Related Conditions (STARC) Research Lab, School of Psychology, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.
Centre for Improving Health Related Quality of Life (CIHRQoL), School of Psychology, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.
Br J Health Psychol. 2022 Feb;27(1):13-29. doi: 10.1111/bjhp.12530. Epub 2021 May 5.
Vaccine hesitancy is a growing concern and threat to public health. This research will begin to examine the relative influence of relevant psychological, social, and situational factors on intent to engage with a hypothetical COVID-19 vaccine among key workers and non-key workers.
Cross-sectional.
The study utilized a sample of UK adults who completed the 1-month follow-up of The COVID-19 Psychological Wellbeing Study during April/May 2020 and indicated having not been previously diagnosed with COVID-19 (key workers n = 584; not key workers n = 1,021). These groups were compared in relation to their intentions to vaccinate, perceived risk of infection, and symptom severity. Binary logistic regression was used to examine predictors of vaccine hesitancy.
Overall, 74.2% of the sample (76.2% key workers, 73.1% non-key workers) indicated they would accept a COVID-19 vaccine in future. Key workers (in particular health and social care workers) had a higher perceived risk of becoming infected in the coming months. For key workers, being female and perceiving oneself as having relatively low infection risk in the next 6 months was associated with increased likelihood of vaccine hesitancy. For non-key workers, however, being aged 25-54, having a low or average income and not knowing someone diagnosed with COVID-19 were associated with hesitancy.
The proportion of individuals willing to accept a vaccine is encouraging but there is much room for improvement. Given the unique predictors of vaccine hesitancy in each group, public health campaigns may benefit from targeted messaging.
疫苗犹豫是对公众健康的一个日益严重的关注和威胁。本研究将开始研究相关的心理、社会和情境因素对关键工人和非关键工人接种假设的 COVID-19 疫苗的意愿的相对影响。
横断面研究。
该研究使用了英国成年人的样本，他们在 2020 年 4 月/5 月完成了《COVID-19 心理幸福感研究》的 1 个月随访，并表示之前没有被诊断出患有 COVID-19（关键工人 n=584；非关键工人 n=1021）。这些群体在接种疫苗的意愿、感染风险和症状严重程度方面进行了比较。二项逻辑回归用于检验疫苗犹豫的预测因素。
总体而言，样本中的 74.2%（关键工人 76.2%，非关键工人 73.1%）表示他们将来会接受 COVID-19 疫苗。关键工人（特别是卫生和社会保健工作者）在未来几个月感染的风险更高。对于关键工人来说，女性和认为自己在未来 6 个月内感染风险相对较低与增加疫苗犹豫的可能性有关。然而，对于非关键工人来说，年龄在 25-54 岁之间、收入较低或中等以及不认识被诊断出患有 COVID-19 的人则与犹豫有关。
愿意接受疫苗的人数比例令人鼓舞，但仍有很大的改进空间。鉴于每个群体中疫苗犹豫的独特预测因素，公共卫生运动可能会受益于有针对性的信息传递。
