Attitudes towards vaccines and intention to vaccinate against COVID-19: a cross-sectional analysis—implications for public health communications in Australia
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Abstract
To examine SARS-CoV-2 vaccine confidence, attitudes and intentions in Australian adults as part of the iCARE Study.
Design and setting
Cross-sectional online survey conducted when free COVID-19 vaccinations first became available in Australia in February 2021.
Participants
Total of 1166 Australians from general population aged 18–90 years (mean 52, SD of 19).
Main outcome measures
Primary outcome: responses to question ‘If a vaccine for COVID-19 were available today, what is the likelihood that you would get vaccinated?’.
Secondary outcome: analyses of putative drivers of uptake, including vaccine confidence, socioeconomic status and sources of trust, derived from multiple survey questions.
Results
Seventy-eight per cent reported being likely to receive a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Higher SARS-CoV-2 vaccine intentions were associated with: increasing age (OR: 2.01 (95% CI 1.77 to 2.77)), being male (1.37 (95% CI 1.08 to 1.72)), residing in least disadvantaged area quintile (2.27 (95% CI 1.53 to 3.37)) and a self-perceived high risk of getting COVID-19 (1.52 (95% CI 1.08 to 2.14)). However, 72% did not believe they were at a high risk of getting COVID-19. Findings regarding vaccines in general were similar except there were no sex differences. For both the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and vaccines in general, there were no differences in intentions to vaccinate as a function of education level, perceived income level and rurality. Knowing that the vaccine is safe and effective and that getting vaccinated will protect others, trusting the company that made it and vaccination recommended by a doctor were reported to influence a large proportion of the study cohort to uptake the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Seventy-eight per cent reported the intent to continue engaging in virus-protecting behaviours (mask wearing, social distancing, etc) postvaccine.
Conclusions
Most Australians are likely to receive a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Key influencing factors identified (eg, knowing vaccine is safe and effective, and doctor’s recommendation to get vaccinated) can inform public health messaging to enhance vaccination rates.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2021.09.12.21263158: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics IRB: This project was approved by the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (#ID: 24449).
Consent: The first page of the survey described the study, its purpose, and advised readers that continuing to the next page would be an indicator of consent to participate in the study.Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
Software and Algorithms Sentences Resources Statistical analyses used STATA SE/v16. STATAsuggested: (Stata, RRID:SCR_012763)Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature …
SciScore for 10.1101/2021.09.12.21263158: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics IRB: This project was approved by the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (#ID: 24449).
Consent: The first page of the survey described the study, its purpose, and advised readers that continuing to the next page would be an indicator of consent to participate in the study.Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
Software and Algorithms Sentences Resources Statistical analyses used STATA SE/v16. STATAsuggested: (Stata, RRID:SCR_012763)Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:Limitations to our study include that this the survey was only available in English, which is likely to have reduced representation of ethnic groups. Internet access was required, which may account for the increased representation of those in the least disadvantaged quintile. Furthermore, since we rely on self-reported behaviour, there is the risk of a social desirability bias, with participants potentially over-reporting socially desirable traits in their responses and the voluntary nature of the survey makes it prone to a selection bias. (9, 42) There is a paucity of studies on what influences people to consider taking the vaccine in Australia in 2021, where access to the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines is increasing, but still limited by age and occupation at the time of the survey. Since this survey, the rapid emergence of the highly transmissibility Delta variant, the major challenges of large scale, extended lockdowns escalating the imperative for rapid vaccination, and highlighting the importance of work in this field. Behavioural research such as the iCARE study can inform policymakers in understanding the public’s knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and beliefs towards the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, which in turn drive their behaviours including vaccination and can aid with targeting public health messages. (21)
Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.
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