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. 2021 Dec 23;7(12):e30424.
doi: 10.2196/30424.

COVID-19 Vaccine-Related Attitudes and Beliefs in Canada: National Cross-sectional Survey and Cluster Analysis

Jamie L Benham  1   2 , Omid Atabati  3 , Robert J Oxoby  3 , Mehdi Mourali  4 , Blake Shaffer  3 , Hasan Sheikh  5 , Jean-Christophe Boucher  6 , Cora Constantinescu  2 , Jeanna Parsons Leigh  7 , Noah M Ivers  8 , Scott C Ratzan  9 , Madison M Fullerton  2 , Theresa Tang  2 , Braden J Manns  1   2 , Deborah A Marshall  1   2 , Jia Hu #  2 , Raynell Lang #  1
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COVID-19 Vaccine-Related Attitudes and Beliefs in Canada: National Cross-sectional Survey and Cluster Analysis

Jamie L Benham et al. JMIR Public Health Surveill. .

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 Canada in October and November 2020, prior to the regulatory approval of the COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccine hesitancy was measured by respondents answering the question "what would you do if a COVID-19 vaccine were available to you?" Negative binomial regression was used to identify the factors associated with vaccine hesitancy. Cluster analysis was performed to identify distinct clusters based on intention to take a COVID-19 vaccine, beliefs about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines, and adherence to nonpharmaceutical interventions.

Results: Of 4498 participants, 2876 (63.9%) reported COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Vaccine hesitancy was significantly associated with (1) younger age (18-39 years), (2) lower education, and (3) non-Liberal political leaning. 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. Individuals with vaccine hesitancy had higher prevalence of being concerned about vaccine side effects, lower prevalence of being influenced by peers or health care professionals, and lower prevalence of 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 that health care workers are knowledgeable and supported in their vaccination counselling may be effective for vaccine-hesitant populations.

Keywords: COVID-19; Canada; attitudes; behavior; belief; communication; compliance; coronavirus; cross-sectional; education; ethnicity; gender; hesitancy; income; marketing; public health; race; risk; risk reduction; vaccine.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Willingness of the survey participants, by cluster, to take the COVID-19 vaccine when available.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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    1. Lang R, Benham JL, Atabati O, Hollis A, Tombe T, Shaffer B, Burns KK, MacKean G, Léveillé T, McCormack B, Sheikh H, Fullerton MM, Tang T, Boucher J, Constantinescu C, Mourali M, Manns BJ, Marshall DA, Hu J, Oxoby RJ. Attitudes, behaviours and barriers to public health measures for COVID-19: a survey to inform public health messaging. BMC Public Health. 2021 Apr 21;21(1):765. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-10790-0. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-021-10... 10.1186/s12889-021-10790-0 - DOI - DOI - PMC - PubMed

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