Who Got Vaccinated for COVID-19? Evidence from Japan.

Toshihiro Okubo,Kozue Sekijima,Atsushi Inoue

doi:10.3390/vaccines9121505

Toshihiro Okubo, Kozue Sekijima + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9121505

Copy DOI

Abstract

Vaccination has been critical to reducing infections and deaths during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. While previous studies have investigated attitudes toward taking a vaccine, studies on the determinants of COVID-19 vaccination behavior are scant. We examine what characteristics, including socioeconomic and non-economic factors, are associated with vaccination behavior for COVID-19 in Japan. We use a large nationwide online survey with approximately 10,000 participants. As of September 2021, 85% of the respondents said that they had received or would receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Employing logistic regression analysis on vaccination behavior, we found that vaccination rates are higher among those who are older, married, educated, and/or work in a large company. On the other hand, vaccination rates tend to be lower among the self-employed, younger women, and those with poor mental health. Income did not significantly correlate with vaccination. Medical workers were found to have a relatively high rate of vaccination. Although attitude towards risk and time preference were not crucial factors for vaccination, fear of infection, infection prevention behavior, and agreement with government policies on behavioral restrictions in crisis situations positively correlated with vaccination.

Highlights

Vaccines 2021, 9, 1505. https://Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread around the world since January 2020.As of 10 December 2021, there were more than 267 million confirmed cases of infection and more than 5 million deaths due to COVID-19 worldwide [1]
This is because the occupational category we used includes medical doctors and other types, such as veterinarians and pharmacists, who are not defined as healthcare professionals when it comes to COVID-19 vaccination priority
This paper investigated which characteristics affect individuals’ COVID-19 vaccination behavior in Japan, by means of a large nationwide survey

Summary

Introduction

Vaccines 2021, 9, 1505. https://Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread around the world since January 2020.As of 10 December 2021, there were more than 267 million confirmed cases of infection and more than 5 million deaths due to COVID-19 worldwide [1]. Despite some waves of infection remaining, the spread of vaccines has attenuated the number of COVID-19-related deaths in many countries [2,3]. As of April 2021, the proportion of people who had received at least one dose of an approved COVID-19 vaccine was 5% of the world population [4] Japan is a good example, being one of the countries which has a large gap between the proportion of people with immunity needed to achieve herd immunity and the proportion of people who are already immune [6])

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion