Tokiya Mikiko, Hara Megumi, Matsumoto Akiko, Ashenagar Mohammad Said, Nakano Takashi, Hirota Yoshio
Department of Social and Environmental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Saga University, 5-1-1 Nabeshima, Saga 849-8501, Japan.
Department of Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Saga University, 5-1-1 Nabeshima, Saga 849-8501, Japan.
Vaccines (Basel). 2022 Mar 10;10(3):423. doi: 10.3390/vaccines10030423.
Understanding vaccine hesitancy, considering the target region and phase, is an urgent issue to quell the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. This study aimed to monitor COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the Japanese population during the three phases of vaccine approval and introduction, and evaluate the association of vaccine hesitancy with vaccine confidence and literacy. We conducted web-based cross-sectional surveys during the three phases of COVID-19 vaccine introduction: January 2021, before approval; June, start of vaccination of the elderly; and September, when about 70% of the target population was vaccinated with at least one dose. There were 7210 participants, aged 20−80 years. We evaluated the association of vaccine hesitancy with vaccine confidence and literacy in the three phases using multivariate logistic regression analysis. The proportion of hesitancy in January, June, and September was 17.5%, 65.3%, and 19.4%, respectively. In any phase, lower vaccine confidence and literacy showed a higher adjusted odds ratio (AOR) of vaccine hesitancy in most items (AOR > 1, p < 0.001). Vaccine hesitancy in June had a different trend in perception of COVID-19 compared to that in the January and September surveys. The findings suggested that hesitancy increases transiently during vaccination introduction phases, and changes as the vaccination program progressed or waves of epidemic. Careful risk communication to increase vaccine confidence and literacy is essential to reduce vaccine hesitancy, especially in the introduction phase.
考虑到目标地区和阶段，了解疫苗犹豫情况是平息冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行的紧迫问题。本研究旨在监测日本人群在疫苗批准和引入的三个阶段对COVID-19疫苗的犹豫情况，并评估疫苗犹豫与疫苗信心和知识水平之间的关联。我们在COVID-19疫苗引入的三个阶段进行了基于网络的横断面调查：2021年1月，批准前；6月，老年人开始接种疫苗时；9月，约70%的目标人群至少接种一剂疫苗时。共有7210名年龄在20至80岁之间的参与者。我们使用多变量逻辑回归分析评估了三个阶段中疫苗犹豫与疫苗信心和知识水平之间的关联。1月、6月和9月的犹豫比例分别为17.5%、65.3%和19.4%。在任何阶段，较低的疫苗信心和知识水平在大多数项目中显示出更高的疫苗犹豫调整优势比（AOR）（AOR>1，p<0.001）。与1月和9月的调查相比，6月的疫苗犹豫在对COVID-19的认知方面有不同的趋势。研究结果表明，在疫苗引入阶段犹豫会短暂增加，并随着疫苗接种计划的推进或疫情浪潮而变化。进行谨慎的风险沟通以提高疫苗信心和知识水平对于减少疫苗犹豫至关重要，尤其是在引入阶段。
