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
. 2023 Jun:5:100349.
doi: 10.1016/j.puhip.2022.100349. Epub 2022 Dec 10.

COVID-19 vaccination acceptance among older adults: A qualitative study in New South Wales, Australia

Bianca Bullivant  1   2 , Katarzyna T Bolsewicz  1   2   3 , Catherine King  1   2   4 , Maryke S Steffens  1   2
Affiliations

COVID-19 vaccination acceptance among older adults: A qualitative study in New South Wales, Australia

Bianca Bullivant et al. Public Health Pract (Oxf). 2023 Jun.

Abstract

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a severe impact on people across the world, particularly older adults who have a higher risk of death and health complications. We aimed to explore older adults' intention towards COVID-19 vaccination and factors that influenced their motivation to get vaccinated.

Study design: A qualitative study was conducted in New South Wales, Australia (April 2021), involving interviews with older adults (aged 70 years and older).

Methods: In-depth interviews were carried out with 14 older adults on their perceptions around COVID-19 vaccination. The COVID-19 vaccination program had just commenced at the time of data collection. We thematically analysed interviews and organised the themes within the Behavioural and Social Drivers of Vaccination (BeSD) Framework.

Results: We found that most participants were accepting of COVID-19 vaccination. Participants' motivation to get vaccinated was influenced by the way they thought and felt about COVID-19 disease and vaccination (including perceptions of vaccine safety, effectiveness, benefits, COVID-19 disease risk, and vaccine brand preferences) and social influences (including healthcare provider recommendation, and influential others). The uptake of COVID-19 vaccination was also mediated by practical issues such as access and affordability.

Conclusions: Efforts to increase COVID-19 vaccination acceptance in this population should focus on highlighting the benefits of vaccination. Support should be given to immunisation providers to enhance efforts to discuss and recommend vaccination to this high-risk group.

Keywords: Australia; COVID-19; Older adults; Qualitative; Vaccination; Vaccination acceptance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Bianca Bullivant reports financial support was provided by 10.13039/501100009287NSW Health. Maryke Steffens reports financial support was provided by 10.13039/501100009287NSW Health. Katarzyna Bolsewicz reports financial support was provided by 10.13039/501100009287NSW Health. Catherine King reports financial support was provided by 10.13039/501100009287NSW Health.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The adapted BeSD Framework showing key themes identified during the interviews.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. World Health Organization WHO director-general’s opening remarks at the media on COVID-19 – 11 March 2020. 2020. https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-genera...
    1. World Health Organization WHO coronavirus (COVID-19) dashboard. 2022. https://covid19.who.int/
    1. World Health Organization COVID-19 advice for the public: getting vaccinated. 2022. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/covid-19...
    1. Hou Z., Tong Y., Du F., Lu L., Zhao S., Yu K., et al. Assessing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, confidence, and public engagement: a global social listening study. J. Med. Internet Res. 2021;23 https://www.jmir.org/2021/6/e27632 - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization Behavioural and social drivers of vaccination: tools and practical guidance for achieving high uptake. 2022. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/354459?show=full Geneva, Licence, CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.