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. 2021 Sep 4;18(17):9342.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18179342.

What Demographic, Social, and Contextual Factors Influence the Intention to Use COVID-19 Vaccines: A Scoping Review

Bara' Abdallah AlShurman  1 , Amber Fozia Khan  1 , Christina Mac  1 , Meerab Majeed  2 , Zahid Ahmad Butt  1
Affiliations

What Demographic, Social, and Contextual Factors Influence the Intention to Use COVID-19 Vaccines: A Scoping Review

Bara' Abdallah AlShurman et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: During the COVID-19 crisis, an apparent growth in vaccine hesitancy has been noticed due to different factors and reasons. Therefore, this scoping review was performed to determine the prevalence of intention to use COVID-19 vaccines among adults aged 18-60, and to identify the demographic, social, and contextual factors that influence the intention to use COVID-19 vaccines.

Methods: This scoping review was conducted by using the methodological framework for scoping review outlined by Arksey and O'Malley. A search strategy was carried out on four electronic databases: PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. All peer-reviewed articles published between November 2019 and December 2020 were reviewed. Data were extracted to identify the prevalence of, and factors that influence, the intention to use COVID-19 vaccines.

Results: A total of 48 relevant articles were identified for inclusion in the review. Outcomes presented fell into seven themes: demographics, social factors, vaccination beliefs and attitudes, vaccine-related perceptions, health-related perceptions, perceived barriers, and vaccine recommendations. Age, gender, education level, race/ethnicity, vaccine safety and effectiveness, influenza vaccination history, and self-protection from COVID-19 were the most prominent factors associated with intention to use COVID-19 vaccines. Furthermore, the majority of studies (n = 34/48) reported a relatively high prevalence of intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19, with a range from 60% to 93%.

Conclusion: This scoping review enables the creation of demographic, social, and contextual constructs associated with intention to vaccinate among the adult population. These factors are likely to play a major role in any targeted vaccination programs, particularly COVID-19 vaccination. Thus, our review suggests focusing on the development of strategies to promote the intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and to overcome vaccine hesitancy and refusal. These strategies could include transparent communication, social media engagement, and the initiation of education programs.

Keywords: COVID-19; adults; determinants; vaccine acceptance; vaccine hesitancy; vaccine intention.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analyses (PRISMA) flow chart of article extraction from the literature search.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The prevalence of intention to receive COVID-19 vaccines globally.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Conceptual framework for the hypothesized predictors of intention to receive COVID-19 vaccines based on the modified health belief model (HBM).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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