Abstract
COVID-19 vaccines have been conditionally used in a few countries, including China since December 2020. The present study aimed to examine whether the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination changed in different COVID-19 epidemic phases in China. Two consecutive surveys were conducted among Chinese adults in March (n = 2058) (severe epidemic phase) and November–December (n = 2013) (well-contained phase, right before the COVID-19 vaccine was conditionally approved) 2020, and 791 respondents were longitudinally followed-up. The attitude, acceptance, and preferences for future COVID-19 vaccination were compared between two epidemic phases. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify influencing factors of acceptance. Among the 791 respondents longitudinally followed, 91.9% in March and 88.6% of them in November–December 2020 would like to get COVID-19 vaccination in China. In March 58.3% wished to get vaccinated immediately, but the proportion declined to 23.0% in November–December 2020, because more respondents wanted to delay vaccination until the vaccine’s safety was confirmed. Similar results were found by comparing all respondents from the two cross-sectional surveys in different epidemic phases. The risk perception, attitude for the importance of vaccination against COVID-19, vaccination history, valuing doctor’s recommendations, vaccination convenience, or vaccine price in decision-making had impacts on respondents’ intention for immediate vaccination. The public acceptance for COVID-19 vaccination in China sustained at a high level in different COVID-19 epidemic phases. However, the intention of immediate vaccination declined substantially due to concerns about the vaccine’s safety. Information about vaccination safety from authoritative sources, doctor’s recommendations, and vaccination convenience were important in addressing vaccine hesitancy and promoting successful herd immunity for the general population in China.
Highlights
The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has continued to spread and evolve around the world since its first identification in December 2019 [1,2,3]
Some studies concerning the public acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination have been conducted in some countries and regions, and it has been found that the acceptance varied substantially globally [10,11,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25]
As one of the few countries around the world that have reached the well-contained phase and managed to recover from the pandemic, this study aimed to examine whether the public acceptance and preferences of COVID-19 vaccination have changed in different COVID-19 epidemic phases, as well as its trend
Summary
The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has continued to spread and evolve around the world since its first identification in December 2019 [1,2,3]. In addition to the enormous disease and economic burden posed by COVID-19, the pandemic has brought huge impacts on all aspects of society, 4.0/). Such as disrupting economies, social order, and domestic and international communications [2,4,5]. Vaccination against COVID-19 has been regarded as one of the most promising and cost-effective health interventions to prevent and control the pandemic, and vaccines have been developed, tested, and put into use at an unprecedented pace [6,7,8]. Some studies concerning the public acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination have been conducted in some countries and regions, and it has been found that the acceptance varied substantially globally [10,11,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25]
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