Improving older adults’ vaccination uptake: Are existing measures of vaccine hesitancy valid and reliable for older people?

Abstract

We sought to establish whether two recently developed measures, the 5C scale and the Vaccination Attitudes Examination (VAX) were reliable and valid for use with older adults. A total of 372 UK-dwelling participants (65–92 years, M = 70.5 years, SD = 4.6) completed a cross-sectional survey measuring health and socio-demographic characteristics in relation to vaccine uptake for influenza, pneumococcal and shingles. The 5C and VAX scales were administered to test their reliability, validity and dimensionality. Both scales showed good internal reliability and convergent, discriminant and concurrent validity. Their factor structures were also confirmed, supporting their use with older adult populations.

Could Belief in Fake News Predict Vaccination Behavior in the Elderly?

“…Studies show that older people like to be vaccinated more than younger ones [ 3 , 6 ]. However, vaccination rates during COVID-19 among the 65+ age population have been found to fall below the World Health Organization’s target of 75% in the U.K. [ 7 ], and in Singapore, the elderly were less likely to be vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine than young people [ 8 ]. Studies with older adults showed that their willingness to be vaccinated could also be related to the vaccine characteristics [ 9 , 10 ], their perceived risks [ 11 , 12 , 13 ], their health-related behavior [ 11 , 14 ], and other factors.…”