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Psychological characteristics associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and resistance in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

ABSTRACT: Identifying and understanding COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy within distinct populations may aid future public health messaging. Using nationally representative data from the general adult populations of Ireland (N?=?1041) and the United Kingdom (UK; N?=?2025), we found that vaccine hesitancy/resistance was evident for 35% and 31% of these populations respectively. Vaccine hesitant/resistant respondents in Ireland and the UK differed on a number of sociodemographic and health-related variables but were similar across a broad array of psychological constructs. In both populations, those resistant to a COVID-19 vaccine were less likely to obtain information about the pandemic from traditional and authoritative sources and had similar levels of mistrust in these sources compared to vaccine accepting respondents. Given the geographical proximity and socio-economic similarity of the populations studied, it is not possible to generalize findings to other populations, however, the methodology employed here may be useful to those wishing to understand COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy elsewhere.

SUBMITTER: Murphy J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7782692 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Psychological characteristics associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and resistance in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Murphy Jamie J Vallières Frédérique F Bentall Richard P RP Shevlin Mark M McBride Orla O Hartman Todd K TK McKay Ryan R Bennett Kate K Mason Liam L Gibson-Miller Jilly J Levita Liat L Martinez Anton P AP Stocks Thomas V A TVA Karatzias Thanos T Hyland Philip P

Nature communications 20210104 1

Identifying and understanding COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy within distinct populations may aid future public health messaging. Using nationally representative data from the general adult populations of Ireland (N = 1041) and the United Kingdom (UK; N = 2025), we found that vaccine hesitancy/resistance was evident for 35% and 31% of these populations respectively. Vaccine hesitant/resistant respondents in Ireland and the UK differed on a number of sociodemographic and health-related variables but w ...[more]

PMID: 33397962

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Project description:BackgroundThe successful control of the COVID-19 pandemic depends largely on the acceptance and uptake of a COVID-19 vaccine among the public. Thus, formative research aiming to understand and determine the causes of weak and/or positive vaccination intentions is vital in order to ensure the success of future and current vaccination programmes through the provision of effective, evidence-based health messaging.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was completed by a sample of Irish (N = 500) and UK (N = 579) citizens using the online platform 'Qualtrics'. Participants completed a questionnaire battery comprised of health, attitudes/beliefs, influences, and behavioural intention measures. Demographic information was also assessed.ResultsResults highlighted similar rates of vaccine intention among both samples; where a total of 76.8% Irish respondents, and 73.7% of UK respondents indicated that they intended to be immunized if the government advised them to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Overall, 23.2% of Irish respondents reported being vaccine hesitant or vaccine resistant, while a rate of 26.3% of UK respondents reported vaccine hesitancy or resistance. Univariate analysis highlighted that both gender and age played a significant role in vaccine intention, with women under age 30 reporting higher rate of vaccine hesitancy. Multivariate analysis revealed that significant correlates of vaccine acceptance included peer influence, GP influence, civic responsibility, perceived benefit, and positive vaccination attitudes. Those who reported vaccine resistance and hesitancy were more likely to have less positive vaccination attitudes and perceive higher vaccination risk.DiscussionThe current sociodemographic and psychological profiles of vaccine resistant and hesitant individuals provide a useful resource for informing health practitioners in the UK and Ireland with the means of enhancing pro-vaccine attitudes and promoting vaccination uptake. The current research shows indications of associations between distrust in the vaccine itself and vaccine hesitancy and resistance. Thus, to effectively design and deliver public health messages that ensures the success of vaccination uptake, it is likely that governments and public health officials will need to take actions to garner trust in the safety of the vaccine itself. Additionally, campaigns to decrease hesitancy and resistance in the COVID-19 vaccine may benefit in targeting altruism to increase willingness to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Project description:COVID-19 continues to pose a threat to global public health. Multiple safe and effective vaccines against COVID-19 are available with one-third of the global population now vaccinated. Achieving a sufficient level of vaccine coverage to suppress COVID-19 requires, in part, sufficient acceptance among the public. However, relatively high rates of hesitance and resistance to COVID-19 vaccination persists, threating public health efforts to achieve vaccine-induced population protection. In this study, we examined longitudinal changes in COVID-19 vaccine acceptance, hesitance, and resistance in two nations (the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) during the first nine months of the pandemic, and identified individual and psychological factors associated with consistent non-acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination. Using nationally representative, longitudinal data from the United Kingdom (UK; N = 2025) and Ireland (N = 1041), we found that (1) COVID-19 vaccine acceptance declined in the UK and remained unchanged in Ireland following the emergence of approved vaccines; (2) multiple subgroups existed reflecting people who were consistently willing to be vaccinated (‘Accepters’: 68% in the UK and 61% in Ireland), consistently unwilling to be vaccinated (‘Deniers’: 12% in the UK and 16% in Ireland), and who fluctuated over time (‘Moveable Middle’: 20% in the UK and 23% in Ireland); and (3) the ‘deniers’ and ‘moveable middle’ were distinguishable from the ‘accepters’ on a range of individual (e.g., younger, low income, living alone) and psychological (e.g., distrust of scientists and doctors, conspiracy mindedness) factors. The use of two high-income, Western European nations limits the generalizability of these findings. Nevertheless, understanding how receptibility to COVID-19 vaccination changes as the pandemic unfolds, and the factors that distinguish and characterise those that are hesitant and resistant to vaccination is helpful for public health efforts to achieve vaccine-induced population protection against COVID-19.

Project description:The outbreak of COVID-19 led to restrictions on movements and activities, which presented a serious challenge to the resilience of the water sector. It is essential to understand how successfully water companies responded to this unprecedented event so effective plans can be built for future disruptive events. This study aimed to evaluate how the water sectors in the UK and Ireland were affected from a holistic sustainability and resilience-based perspective. Using pre-COVID data for 18 indicators of company performance and comparing them to the first year of the pandemic, the direction and magnitudes of change varied across companies. Financial indicators were significantly negatively affected, with interest cover ratio, post-tax return on regulated equity, and operating profit, exhibiting the greatest average declines of 21%, 21%, and 18%, respectively, a trend that would be dangerous to provisions and company operations if continued. Despite this, service and environmental indicators improved during the first year of the pandemic, exemplified by unplanned outage, risk of sewer storm flooding, and water quality compliance risk decreasing by a mean average of 37%, 32%, and 27%, respectively. Analysis using the Hicks-Moorsteen Productivity Index concluded that average productivity increased by 35%. The results suggest that the water sector was relatively resilient to the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of services, but adverse effects may have manifested in a deteriorated financial position that could exacerbate future challenges arising from exogenous pressures such as climate change. Specific advice for the UK water sector is to scrutinize non-critical spending, such as shareholder payments, during periods of economic downturn to ensure essential capital projects can be carried out. Although results are temporal and indicator selection sensitive, we recommend that policy, regulation, and corporate culture embrace frameworks that support long-term resilience to since the relative success in response to COVID-19 does not guarantee future success against differing challenges. This study generates a timely yet tentative insight into the diverse performance of the water sector during the pandemic, pertinent to the water industry, regulators, academia, and the public.

Project description:BackgroundPrevious research has shown that young adults are more hesitant/resistant to COVID-19 vaccine uptake than older age groups, although the factors underlying this tendency are still under debate. The current study aimed to identify the sociodemographic and psychological correlates of vaccine hesitancy and resistance among young adults (18-40 years) during the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Italy, the first country after China being hit by the pandemic and which suffered a large number of fatalities.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional, web-based study conducted in Italy using an ISO-certified international survey company (respondi.com). Data were collected on 1200 participants in June 2021.ResultsVaccine hesitancy/resistance was found for 25% of the sample. In multinomial logistic regression (N = 1159), being aged 30-40 years, residing in northern Italy, having lower educational and income level, being unemployed, and not knowing any friends/relatives diagnosed with COVID-19 were associated with higher odds of hesitancy or resistance. In multivariate analysis of variance (N = 1177), both vaccine hesitant and resistant young adults perceived significantly less social support from friends and family than vaccine accepting ones. Resistant individuals reported significantly higher levels of conspiracy theories and negative attitudes toward vaccines than their accepting and hesitant counterparts. Moreover, resistant individuals reported significantly lower levels of attachment to country and perceptions of a just government compared to accepting ones, with hesitant young adults scoring in between.ConclusionsOur findings support the idea that young adults with a hesitant (vs. resistant) attitude show a more nuanced and less extreme psychological profile. Public health messaging should capitalize on social media to provide accessible, transparent, and age-appropriate information concerning COVID-19 vaccine safety. Moreover, policy efforts improving the availability of social support systems are warranted to strengthen connectedness and foster trust in institutions amongst this particular segment of the population.

Dataset Information

Psychological characteristics associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and resistance in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

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Psychological characteristics associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and resistance in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

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