Abstract
The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) first appeared in Wuhan, China in late 2019 and since then has caused unprecedented economic and social disruption as well as presenting a major challenge to public health. Despite mass progress in COVID-19 vaccination uptake, vaccine hesitancy or anti-vax information has been reported that can delay public acceptance of a vaccine. An online cross-sectional survey (n = 439) assessed COVID-19 vaccine uptake and hesitancy in adults in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Participants completed an adapted version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour Vaccine Questionnaire, the Vaccine Attitudes Scale (VAX), Vaccine Confidence Scale, and questions on previous experience of COVID-19. Results showed that 66.7% of the sample intended to get a vaccination as soon as possible, 27.15% reported they will get a vaccine when others get theirs and when it is clear there are no side effects. 6.15% had no intention of getting a vaccine. Overall, there is a high mean intention (M = 6.12) and confidence to get a COVID-19 vaccine. There was low vaccine hesitancy (M = 2.49) as measured by the VAX scale. A further analysis of the sub factors of the VAX showed there is uncertainty and mistrust of side effects for children. The finding demonstrate that the Theory of Planned Behaviour can be useful in making recommendations for public health considerations when encouraging vaccine uptake and reducing vaccine hesitancy.
Highlights
The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) first appeared in Wuhan, China in late 2019
As there are gaps in the literature in the rates of vaccine uptake and hesitancy, and how to promote vaccine uptake using a psychological theory of behaviour change the study had three aims: 1) To assess SARS-CoV-2 vaccine uptake and hesitancy rates in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland where the healthcare systems are different, yet there is overlap in culture; 2) To assess Attitudes, Subjective Norms and Perceived Behavioural Control as predictors of intentions to vaccinate against COVID-19 and 3) To consider demographic factors, confidence in getting a vaccine and previous experiences of COVID-19 on intention to vaccinate
The current study showed that attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines, perceived behavioural control and mistrust predict the high mean intention to get the vaccine in this sample
Summary
The Lancet publication led to a plethora of studies, refuting the link between autism and vaccination [17,18], damage to parental confidence, and public opinion on vaccine certainty for children may have already occurred, evident in a measles outbreaks in the UK, USA and Canada in 2008/2009 due in part to parental hesitancy and children not being vaccinated [19] This finding suggests that public health authorities and effective communication to the public plays an important role in ensuring scientific guidance and information on vaccines is not misleading, and that anti-immunisation rhetoric or fashionable conspiracy theories are downplayed. No studies have included a psychological behaviour change theory to predict COVID-19 vaccine uptake that would provide a further level of detail when advising national public health authorities. As mistrust and confidence in the effectiveness of vaccines has been a reported issue for parents consenting to children receiving vaccines, parental mistrust and confidence in children being vaccinated was included
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