BACKGROUND: High levels of vaccination coverage in populations will be required even with vaccines that have high levels of effectiveness to prevent and stop outbreaks of coronavirus. The World Health Organisation has suggested that governments take a proactive response to vaccine hesitancy 'hotspots' based on social and behavioural insights. METHODS: Representative longitudinal online survey of over 3000 adults from Australia that examines the demographic, attitudinal, political and social attitudes and COVID-19 health behavior correlates of vaccine hesitance and resistance to a COVID-19 vaccine. RESULTS: Overall, 59% would definitely get the vaccine, 29% had low levels of hesitancy, 7% had high levels of hesitancy and 6% were resistant. Females, those living in disadvantaged areas, those who reported that risks of COVID-19 was overstated, those who had more populist views and higher levels of religiosity were more likely to be hesitant or resistant while those who had higher levels of household income, those who had higher levels of social distancing, who downloaded the COVID-Safe App, who had more confidence in their state or territory government or confidence in their hospitals, or were more supportive of migration were more likely to intend to get vaccinated. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that vaccine hesitancy, which accounts for a significant proportion of the population can be addressed by public health messaging but for a significant minority of the population with strongly held beliefs, alternative policy measures may well be needed to achieve sufficient vaccination coverage to end the pandemic.
BACKGROUND: High levels of vaccination coverage in populations will be required even with vaccines that have high levels of effectiveness to prevent and stop outbreaks of coronavirus. The World Health Organisation has suggested that governments take a proactive response to vaccine hesitancy 'hotspots' based on social and behavioural insights. METHODS: Representative longitudinal online survey of over 3000 adults from Australia that examines the demographic, attitudinal, political and social attitudes and COVID-19 health behavior correlates of vaccine hesitance and resistance to a COVID-19 vaccine. RESULTS: Overall, 59% would definitely get the vaccine, 29% had low levels of hesitancy, 7% had high levels of hesitancy and 6% were resistant. Females, those living in disadvantaged areas, those who reported that risks of COVID-19 was overstated, those who had more populist views and higher levels of religiosity were more likely to be hesitant or resistant while those who had higher levels of household income, those who had higher levels of social distancing, who downloaded the COVID-Safe App, who had more confidence in their state or territory government or confidence in their hospitals, or were more supportive of migration were more likely to intend to get vaccinated. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that vaccine hesitancy, which accounts for a significant proportion of the population can be addressed by public health messaging but for a significant minority of the population with strongly held beliefs, alternative policy measures may well be needed to achieve sufficient vaccination coverage to end the pandemic.
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Authors: M R Gualano; E Olivero; G Voglino; M Corezzi; P Rossello; C Vicentini; F Bert; R Siliquini Journal: Hum Vaccin Immunother Date: 2019-02-20 Impact factor: 3.452
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Authors: Jamie Murphy; Frédérique Vallières; Richard P Bentall; Mark Shevlin; Orla McBride; Todd K Hartman; Ryan McKay; Kate Bennett; Liam Mason; Jilly Gibson-Miller; Liat Levita; Anton P Martinez; Thomas V A Stocks; Thanos Karatzias; Philip Hyland Journal: Nat Commun Date: 2021-01-04 Impact factor: 14.919
Authors: Sarah M Bartsch; Kelly J O'Shea; Marie C Ferguson; Maria Elena Bottazzi; Patrick T Wedlock; Ulrich Strych; James A McKinnell; Sheryl S Siegmund; Sarah N Cox; Peter J Hotez; Bruce Y Lee Journal: Am J Prev Med Date: 2020-07-15 Impact factor: 5.043
Authors: Jennifer D Allen; Wenhui Feng; Laura Corlin; Thalia Porteny; Andrea Acevedo; Deborah Schildkraut; Erin King; Keren Ladin; Qiang Fu; Thomas J Stopka Journal: Prev Med Rep Date: 2021-07-14
Authors: Annalee Yassi; Jennifer M Grant; Karen Lockhart; Stephen Barker; Stacy Sprague; Arnold I Okpani; Titus Wong; Patricia Daly; William Henderson; Stan Lubin; Chad Kim Sing Journal: PLoS One Date: 2021-07-16 Impact factor: 3.240