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. 2023 Apr 27;11(5):907.
doi: 10.3390/vaccines11050907.

The Psychology of COVID-19 Booster Hesitancy, Acceptance and Resistance in Australia

Sabina Kleitman  1 , Dayna J Fullerton  1 , Marvin K H Law  1 , Matthew D Blanchard  1 , Rachel Campbell  1 , Margaret-Ann Tait  1   2 , Jennifer Schulz  3   4   5 , Jihyun Lee  6 , Lazar Stankov  1 , Madeleine T King  1
Affiliations

The Psychology of COVID-19 Booster Hesitancy, Acceptance and Resistance in Australia

Sabina Kleitman et al. Vaccines (Basel). .

Abstract

COVID-19 booster vaccinations have been recommended as a primary line of defence against serious illness and hospitalisation. This study identifies and characterises distinct profiles of attitudes towards vaccination, particularly the willingness to get a booster dose. A sample of 582 adults from Australia completed an online survey capturing COVID-related behaviours, beliefs and attitudes and a range of sociodemographic, psychological, political, social and cultural variables. Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) identified three subgroups: Acceptant (61%), Hesitant (30%) and Resistant (9%). Compared to the Acceptant group, the Hesitant and Resistant groups were less worried about catching COVID-19, used fewer official COVID-19 information sources, checked the news less, were lower on the agreeableness personality dimension and reported more conservatism, persecutory thinking, amoral attitudes and need for chaos. The Hesitant group also reported checking the legitimacy of information sources less, scored lower on the openness to new experiences personality dimension and were more likely than the Resistant and Acceptant groups to report regaining freedoms (e.g., travel) and work requirements or external pressures as reasons to get a booster. The Resistant group were higher on reactance, held more conspiratorial beliefs and rated their culture as being less tolerant of deviance than the Hesitant and Acceptant groups. This research can inform tailored approaches to increasing booster uptake and optimal strategies for public health messaging.

Keywords: COVID-19; booster hesitancy; latent profile analysis; public health policy; vaccine hesitancy.

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Conflict of interest statement

J.S. declares membership of OzSAGE, a multidisciplinary network of Australian experts from a broad range of sectors relevant to the wellbeing of the Australian population during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. All other authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Summary of the variables and analysis methods used.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Respondent flow diagram.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Variable standardized mean (z-scores) comparisons between the three profiles found within the 3-class solution. Higher = more on each variable. Class 1 Hesitant (n = 176), Class 2 Acceptant (n = 353), Class 3 Resistant (n = 53).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Proportions of COVID-19 vaccination doses received within each profile.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Mean scores of rated agreement (1 = strongly disagree; 6 = strongly agree) with reasons for getting primary and booster vaccinations for the three profiles (see Table 3 for statistical significance).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Summary of variables that yielded statistically-significant differences between profiles (Acceptant, Hesitant, Resistant). Effect size (η2) presented in parentheses. Border thickness reflects effect size: thin border = small η2 > 0.01; medium border = medium η2 > 0.09; thick border = large η2 > 0.25. Abbreviations: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), vaccination (vax).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Summary of findings and associated policy recommendations.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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