Abstract
Controversy around the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines may lead to low vaccination rates. Survey data were collected in April and August 2020 from a total of 2343 Australian adults. A quarter (n = 575, 24%) completed both surveys. A generalized linear mixed model analysis was conducted to determine whether willingness to vaccinate changed in the repeated sample, and a multinominal logistic regression was conducted in all participants to determine whether willingness to vaccinate was associated with demographics, chronic disease, or media use. Willingness to vaccinate slightly decreased between April (87%) and August (85%) but this was not significant. Willingness to vaccinate was lower in people with a certificate or diploma (79%) compared to those with a Bachelor degree (87%), p < 0.01 and lower in infrequent users of traditional media (78%) compared to frequent users of traditional media (89%), p < 0.001. Women were more likely to be unsure if they would be willing to vaccinate (10%) compared to men (7%), p < 0.01. There were no associations between willingness to vaccinate and age, chronic disease, or social media use. Promotion of a COVID-19 vaccine should consider targeting women, and people with a certificate or diploma, via non-traditional media channels.
Highlights
The spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has resulted in a worldwide pandemic
The main aims of this study were to determine whether willingness of Australian adults to vaccinate against COVID-19 changed from the beginning of the pandemic (April 2020) to four months later (August 2020) and to determine whether demographic factors, chronic disease status, traditional media use, and social media use are associated with willingness to vaccinate
The supplementary analysis found usual willingness to receive vaccines recommended by a doctor to be associated with different demographics than willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19
Summary
The spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has resulted in a worldwide pandemic. In the last year since the original outbreak in December 2019 there have been over 80 million confirmed cases, and over 1.8 million associated deaths worldwide [1]. In Australia there have been over 28,000 confirmed cases and more than 900 associated deaths [2]. Numerous medical and research institutions have developed vaccines for COVID-19 [3]. Clinical trials support the safety and efficacy of vaccines developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer and the Australian government have registered their intention to purchase these vaccines [3]. The United States and United Kingdom have recently started to roll out the Pfizer vaccine and preliminary findings suggest efficacy of the vaccine to be as high as
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