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Importance: Vaccination hesitancy-the reluctance or refusal to be vaccinated-is a leading global health threat (World Health Organization, 2019). It is imperative to identify the prevalence of vaccination hesitancy for SARS-CoV2 in order to understand the scope of the problem and to identify its motivational roots in order to proactively prepare to address the problem when a vaccine eventually becomes available.
Objective: To identify (1) the prevalence of vaccination hesitancy for a SARS-CoV2 vaccine, (2) the motivational roots of this hesitancy, and (3) the most promising incentives for improving the likelihood of vaccination uptake when a vaccine does become available.
Design Setting And Participants: A cross-sectional sample of 3,674 American and Canadian adults assessed during the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020.
Main Outcomes: Measures of vaccination intention (i.e., "If a vaccine for COVID-19 was available, would you get vaccinated?"), attitudes toward vaccines in general and specific to SARS-CoV2 using the Vaccination Attitudes Examination Scale, and incentives for getting vaccinated for those who reported they would not get vaccinated.
Results: Many American (25%) and Canadian (20%) respondents said that they would not get vaccinated against SARS-CoV2 if a vaccine was available. Non-adherence rates of this magnitude would make it difficult or impossible to achieve herd immunity. Vaccine rejection was most strongly correlated with mistrust of vaccine benefit, and also correlated with worry about unforeseen future effects, concerns about commercial profiteering from pharmaceutical companies, and preferences for natural immunity. When asked about incentives for getting vaccinated, respondents were most likely to report that evidence for rigorous testing and safety of the vaccine were of greatest importance.
Conclusions And Relevance: Vaccination hesitancy is a major looming problem for COVID-19. To improve vaccine uptake, it is imperative that the vaccine is demonstrated to the public to be rigorously tested and not perceived as rushed or premature in its dissemination.
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7604422 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.575950 | DOI Listing |
Nat Hum Behav
September 2025
Institut Jean Nicod, Département d'Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, Université PSL, EHESS, CNRS, Paris, France.
School interventions targeting adolescents' general knowledge of vaccination are rare despite their potential to reduce vaccine hesitancy. This cluster-randomized trial involving 8,589 French ninth graders from 399 schools tests two interventions against the standard curriculum. The first provided teachers with ready-to-use pedagogical activities, while the second used a chatbot.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVaccine
September 2025
Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Background: Among pregnant and postpartum women, decision-making for receiving the COVID-19 vaccine is influenced by vaccine safety concerns, misconceptions, shifting vaccine policies, and exclusion in the initial vaccine rollout. This caused confusion and vaccine hesitancy among many groups including pregnant and postpartum women.
Objective: The objective of this study was to understand the multilevel factors that influence vaccine decision-making among pregnant and postpartum women in Pakistan, which is crucial for improving vaccine demand among the vulnerable group-pregnant and postpartum women.
J Infect Chemother
September 2025
Department of Pediatrics, Saku Central Hospital Advanced Care Center, Nagano, Japan.
Background: Influenza remains a major public health issue, leading to millions of severe cases and many deaths annually. Although educational and childcare institutions are key transmission points for the spread of the virus in communities, few studies have comprehensively examined the vaccination rates and their determinants in these settings.
Methods: We conducted a nationwide web-based survey to assess influenza knowledge, perceptions, and determinants of vaccine hesitancy based on the 5C model among childcare and educational professionals in Japan.
JMIR Public Health Surveill
September 2025
Center of Indigenous Health Care, Department of Community Health, Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated economies and strained health care systems worldwide. Vaccination is crucial for outbreak control, but disparities persist between and within countries. In Taiwan, certain indigenous regions show lower vaccination rates, prompting comprehensive inquiries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Healthc Sci Humanit
January 2024
Institute of Public Health, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
Introduction: COVID-19 infects minority groups with comorbidities at higher rates than whites. In addition, children are at risk of vaccine hesitancy based on parents' acceptance and due to disparity. About twenty percent of workers would get vaccinated, especially if required by work.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF