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Acceptability of COVID-19 Vaccines and Protective Behavior among Adults in Taiwan: Associations between Risk Perception and Willingness to Vaccinate against COVID-19.

ABSTRACT: This study aims to evaluate acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines and the impact of risk perception on vaccine acceptance and personal health protective behaviors in Taiwan. A nationwide cross-sectional study was conducted from 19 to 30 October 2020; 1020 participants were included in the final analysis; chi-square and logistic regression analyses were conducted. In total, 52.7% of participants were willing to receive COVID-19 vaccines, 63.5% perceived the severity of COVID-19 in Taiwan as "not serious", and nearly 40% were worried about COVID-19 infection. Participants with higher perceived severity of COVID-19 had significantly higher odds of refusing the vaccine (OR = 1.546), while those worried about infection had lower odds of poor health protective behaviors (OR = 0.685). Vaccine refusal reasons included "the EUA process is not strict enough" (48.7%) and "side effects" (30.3%). Those who had previously refused other vaccinations were 2.44 times more likely to refuse the COVID-19 vaccines. Participants' age had an influence on COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. In general, the Taiwanese public's acceptance of the vaccine was lower than that in other high-income countries. Elderly participants and those with college-level education and above who had previously refused vaccines had lower willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Risk perception was positively associated with personal health protective behaviors but negatively associated with COVID-19 vaccine acceptance.

SUBMITTER: Tsai FJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8197151 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:As evidence mounted that existing prevention methods would be insufficient to end the COVID-19 pandemic, it became clear that vaccines would be critical to achieve and maintain reduced rates of infection. However, vaccine-hesitant sentiments have become widespread, particularly in populations with lower scientific literacy. The non-STEM major (called non-major) college students represent one such population who rely on one or more science classes to develop their scientific literacy and thus, become candidates of interest for the success of the COVID-19 vaccine campaign. As these students have fewer opportunities to learn how to identify reputable scientific sources or judge the validity of novel scientific findings, it is particularly important that these skills are included in the science courses offered to non-majors. Two concurrent non-major biology courses (N = 98) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Spring 2021 completed Likert questionnaires with open-ended questions prior to and after an expert-led Vaccine Awareness educational intervention addressing vaccine-related concerns. In the module, experts gave presentations about COVID-19 related to microbiology, epidemiological factors, and professional experiences relating to COVID-19. Ten students agreed to participate in post-semester one-on-one interviews. Student interviews revealed that students perceived guest lecturers as providing more information and assurance. Questionnaire data showed an increase in student willingness to accept a COVID-19 vaccine as well as increased student perception of the COVID-19 vaccines as both safe and effective (Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test, p < 0.05). However, the questionnaire data revealed 10 of 98 students remained vaccine-resistant, and these students expressed insufficient research and side effects as leading vaccination concerns. Overall, we show expert-led modules can be effective in increasing non-majors willingness to accept COVID-19 vaccines. Future research should explore the experiences of non-majors and guest lectures, particularly as they relate to vaccination and vaccine concerns.

Project description:BackgroundTo date, most vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine, are mainly administered by intramuscular injection, which might lead to vaccine hesitancy in some populations due to needle fear. Alternatively, needle-free immunization technology is extensively developed to improve the efficacy and acceptance of vaccination. However, there is no study to report the perception and willingness toward various immunization routes of the COVID-19 vaccine in the general population.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted nationwide using an online questionnaire. Bivariate analyses were undertaken to assess variable associations among the participants who reported a hesitancy to receive the COVID-19 booster vaccination. Multivariable logistic regression with a backward step-wise approach was used to analyze the predicted factors associated with the willingness to receive the COVID-19 booster vaccination.ResultsA total of 3,244 valid respondents were included in this survey, and 63.2% of participants thought they had a good understanding of intramuscular injection, but only 20.7, 9.2, 9.4, and 6.0% of participants had a self-perceived good understanding of inhalation vaccine, nasal spray vaccine, oral vaccine, and microneedle patch vaccine. Correspondingly, there was high acceptance for intramuscular injection (76.5%), followed by oral inhalation (64.4%) and nasal spray (43.0%). Those participants who were only willing to receive an intramuscular vaccine had less vaccine knowledge (OR = 0.78; 95% CI: 0.65-0.94) than those who were willing to receive a needle-free vaccine (OR = 1.97; 95% CI: 1.52-2.57). Some factors were found to be associated with vaccine hesitancy toward booster COVID-19 vaccination.ConclusionNeedle-free vaccination is a promising technology for the next generation of vaccines, but we found that intramuscular injection was still the most acceptable immunization route in this survey. One major reason might be that most people lack knowledge about needle-free vaccination. We should strengthen the publicity of needle-free vaccination technology, and thus improve the acceptance and coverage of vaccination in different populations.

Dataset Information

Acceptability of COVID-19 Vaccines and Protective Behavior among Adults in Taiwan: Associations between Risk Perception and Willingness to Vaccinate against COVID-19.

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