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 Feb 8;20(4):2953.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph20042953.

'COVID Is Coming, and I'm Bloody Scared': How Adults with Co-Morbidities' Threat Perceptions of COVID-19 Shape Their Vaccination Decisions

Leah Roberts  1 , Michael J Deml  1   2   3 , Katie Attwell  1   4
Affiliations

'COVID Is Coming, and I'm Bloody Scared': How Adults with Co-Morbidities' Threat Perceptions of COVID-19 Shape Their Vaccination Decisions

Leah Roberts et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Adults with comorbidities have faced a high risk from COVID-19 infection. However, Western Australia experienced relatively few infections and deaths from 2020 until early 2022 compared with other OECD countries, as hard border policies allowed for wide-scale vaccination before mass infections began. This research investigated the thoughts, feelings, risk perceptions, and practices of Western Australian adults with comorbidities aged 18-60 years in regard to COVID-19 disease and COVID-19 vaccines. We conducted 14 in-depth qualitative interviews between January and April 2022, just as the disease was starting to circulate. We coded results inductively and deductively, combining the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) and vaccine belief models. Non-hesitant participants believed COVID-19 vaccines were safe and effective at mitigating COVID-19's threat and subsequently got vaccinated. Vaccine hesitant participants were less convinced the disease was severe or that they were susceptible to it; they also did not consider the vaccines to be sufficiently safe. Yet, for some hesitant participants, the exogenous force of mandates prompted vaccination. This work is important to understand how people's thoughts and feelings about their comorbidities and risks from COVID-19 influence vaccine uptake and how mandatory policies can affect uptake in this cohort.

Keywords: COVID-19; Extended Parallel Process Model; comorbidities; mandates; vaccine hesitancy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Katie Attwell is a specialist advisor to the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation. She is a recipient of a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award funded by the Australian Research Council of the Australian Government (DE19000158). She leads the “Coronavax” project which is funded by the Government of Western Australia. All funds were paid to her institution. Funders are not involved in the conceptualization, design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of manuscripts.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The recommended course of vaccines.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Vaccination journey in an abstract sense.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Patient journey and resulting in becoming vaccinated.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Centre for Disease and Control Prevention Underlying Medical Conditions Associated with Higher Risk for Severe COVID-19: Information for Healthcare Professionals. [(accessed on 18 November 2022)]; Available online: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/clinical-care/underlyingco....
    1. Department of Health and Aged Care Protecting older Australians: COVID-19 Update 12 March 2021. [(accessed on 10 January 2023)]; Available online: https://www.health.gov.au/news/newsletters/protecting-older-australians-....
    1. Seale H., McFadden K., Dyda A., Kaufman J., Heywood A. The pendulum has swung: How do we ensure a life course approach to immunisation in Australia? Front. Public Health. 2021;9:801176. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.801176. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Department of Health and Aged Care AstraZeneca ChAdOx1-S COVID-19 Vaccine. [(accessed on 10 January 2023)]; Available online: https://www.tga.gov.au/news/media-releases/astrazeneca-chadox1-s-covid-1....
    1. Department of Health and Aged Care ATAGI Statement on Revised Recommendations on the Use of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca, 17 June 2021. [(accessed on 10 January 2023)]; Available online: https://www.health.gov.au/news/atagi-statement-on-revised-recommendation....

Publication types