Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Dec 5;40(51):7360-7369.
doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.11.056. Epub 2021 Nov 30.

COVID-19 vaccine Mandates: An Australian attitudinal study

Katie Attwell  1 , Marco Rizzi  2 , Lara McKenzie  3 , Samantha J Carlson  4 , Leah Roberts  3 , Sian Tomkinson  3 , Christopher C Blyth  5
Affiliations

COVID-19 vaccine Mandates: An Australian attitudinal study

Katie Attwell et al. Vaccine. .

Abstract

Background: The rollout of vaccines against COVID-19 is prompting governments and the private sector to adopt mandates. However, there has been little conceptual analysis of the types of mandates available, nor empirical analysis of how the public thinks about different mandates and why. Our conceptual study examines available instruments, how they have been implemented pre-COVID, and their use for COVID-19 globally. Then, our qualitative study reports the acceptability of such measures in Western Australia, which has experienced very limited community transmission, posing an interesting scenario for vaccine acceptance and acceptability of measures to enforce it.

Method: Our conceptual study developed categories of mandates from extant work, news reports, and legislative interventions globally. Then, our empirical study asked 44 West Australians about their attitudes towards potential mandatory policies, with data analysed using NVivo 12.

Results: Our novel studies contribute richness and depth to emerging literature on the types and varying acceptability of vaccine requirements. Participants demonstrated tensions and confusion about whether instruments were incentives or punishments, and many supported strong consequences for non-vaccination even if they ostensibly opposed mandates. Those attached to restrictions for disease prevention were most popular. There were similar degrees of support for mandates imposed by employers or businesses, with participants showing little concern for potential issues of accountability linked to public health decisions delegated to the private sector. Participants mostly supported tightly regulated medical exemptions granted by specialists, with little interest in religious or personal belief exemptions.

Conclusion: Our participants are used to being governed by vaccine mandates, and now by rigorous lockdown and travel restrictions that have ensured limited local COVID-19 disease and transmission. These factors appear influential in their general openness to COVID-19 vaccine mandates, especially when linked explicitly to the prevention of disease in high-risk settings.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: [Dr Katie Attwell is funded by the Australian Research Council of the Australian Government under grant number DE19000158. Dr Attwell and the Coronavax project receive research funding from the Department of Health, Government of Western Australia. Dr Attwell has previously received a speaker’s fee from Merck. Dr Katie Attwell provides technical advice to the Australian Government regarding COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Associate Professor Chris Blyth is the chair of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) as well as the COVID-19 Vaccine ATAGI, on which Dr Attwell sits. The other authors have no financial or personal relationships to declare.].

References

    1. Gravagna K., et al. Global assessment of national mandatory vaccination policies and consequences of non-compliance. Vaccine. 2020 - PMC - PubMed
    1. McCoy C.A. Adapting Coercion: How Three Industrialized Nations Manufacture Vaccination Compliance. J Health Polit Policy Law. 2019;44(6):823–854. - PubMed
    1. Vanderslott S., Marks T. Health diplomacy across borders: the case of yellow fever and COVID-19. J Travel Med. 2020;27(5) - PMC - PubMed
    1. Maltezou H.C., et al. Vaccination of healthcare personnel in Europe: Update to current policies. Vaccine. 2019;37(52):7576–7584. - PubMed
    1. Cassimos D.C., et al. Vaccination Programs for Adults in Europe, 2019. Vaccines. 2020;8(1):34. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types