Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Public Health and Surveillance
Date Submitted: May 13, 2021
Date Accepted: Nov 11, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: Nov 15, 2021
COVID-19 Vaccine Attitudes and Beliefs: A Canadian National Cross-Sectional Survey and Cluster Analysis
ABSTRACT
Background:
There are concerns that vaccine hesitancy may impede COVID-19 vaccine rollout and prevent the achievement of herd immunity. Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite their availability.
Objective:
We aimed to identify which people are more and less likely to take a COVID-19 vaccine, and factors associated with vaccine hesitancy to inform public health messaging.
Methods:
A Canadian cross-sectional survey was conducted in October-November, 2020. Cluster analysis was performed to identify distinct clusters based on intention to take a COVID-19 vaccine, beliefs about COVID-19 and a COVID-19 vaccine, and adherence to non-pharmaceutical interventions. Vaccine hesitancy was measured by respondents answering the question “what would you do if a COVID-19 vaccine were available to you?” Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with vaccine hesitancy.
Results:
Of 4,498 participants, 64% reported COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Vaccine hesitancy was significantly associated with female sex, lower education level, lower household income, and African/Caribbean/Central and South American ethnicity. Participants that reported vaccine hesitancy were less likely to believe that a COVID-19 vaccine would end the pandemic or that the benefits of a COVID-19 vaccine outweighed the risks. Vaccine hesitancy was associated with higher odds of being concerned about vaccine side effects, lower odds of being influenced by peers or healthcare professionals, and lower trust in government institutions.
Conclusions:
These findings can be used to inform targeted public health messaging to combat vaccine hesitancy as COVID-19 vaccine administration continues. Messaging related to preventing COVID among friends and family, highlighting the benefits, emphasizing safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination and ensuring healthcare workers are knowledgeable and supported in their vaccination counselling may be effective for vaccine hesitant populations.
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© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.