Association between COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and generalized trust, depression, generalized anxiety, and fear of COVID-19

Abstract

Background Although numerous studies have been published on the predictors of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, some possible predictors remain underexplored. In this study, we explored the associations of unwillingness and indecisiveness regarding COVID-19 vaccination with generalized trust, mental health conditions such as depression and generalized anxiety, and fear of COVID-19. Methods Data of wave 1 (from October 27 till November 6, 2020) and wave 3 (from April 23 till May 6, 2021) of a longitudinal online study conducted in Japan were used for the analyses. Unvaccinated participants were asked at wave 3 about their willingness to be vaccinated, with possible responses of willing, unwilling, or undecided. These three responses were used as the outcome variable, and multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted with willingness to be vaccinated as the reference group. Explanatory variables included generalized trust, depression, generalized anxiety, and fear of COVID-19 both at wave 1 and 3, and sociodemographic and health-related variables. Results Of the 11,846 valid respondents, 209 (1.8%) answered that they had already been vaccinated against COVID-19, 7089 (59.8%) responded that they were willing to be vaccinated, 3498 (29.5%) responded that they were undecided, and 1053 (8.9%) responded that they were unwilling to be vaccinated. After adjusting for covariates, we found that: (1) participants with lower levels of generalized trust at wave 1 and 3 were more likely to be undecided or unwilling at wave 3; (2) respondents with moderately severe or severe depression at wave 1 and 3 were more likely to be undecided at wave 3; (3) participants with moderate or severe levels of generalized anxiety at wave 3 but not at wave 1 were more likely to be unwilling at wave 3; and (4) respondents with high levels of fear of COVID-19 at wave 1 and 3 were less likely to be undecided and unwilling at wave 3. Conclusions Generalized trust, mental health conditions such as depression and generalized anxiety, and low level of fear of COVID-19 are associated with unwillingness or indecision regarding being vaccinated against COVID-19.

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“… 32 , 33 High general anxiety was correlated with the unwillingness to receive the vaccine. 34 Although only a few respondents had COVID-19 vaccination-related anxiety in the current study, vaccination-related anxiety was the factor associated most significantly with vaccine hesitancy in this study. Anxieties could be influenced by several factors.…”

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“…Those with higher VL may have the ability to source information and decide to not select mRNA, instead choosing previously demonstrated vaccine types such as adenovirus-based. Both VF and VH were associated with acceptance or willingness to receive the vaccination [47][48][49][50], while broadly based studies revealed that fear of the disease encouraged vaccination [48,51,52]. Our team also investigated the impact of VF and VH on AV.…”

Contrasting Association Between COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and Mental Health Status in India and Saudi Arabia—A Preliminary Evidence Collected During the Second Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic

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