Ready for Vaccination? COVID-19 Vaccination Willingness of Older People in Austria

Abstract

In spite of findings highlighting higher health risk from infection compared to younger people, a certain percentage of older people in Austria still lack a valid vaccination certificate. The current gaps in vaccination coverage in countries such as Austria are likely to be in large part due to vaccination refusal and pose or will pose problems for the health system and consequently for all of society should the initial findings on Omicron coronavirus infectivity prove true. Surprisingly, only a few studies around the globe explicitly address older people's COVID-19 vaccination willingness. The present work therefore intends to contribute to this field by identifying factors associated with the decision for or against a vaccination among the older population in Austria. Data collected between late 2020 and early 2021 via the cross-national panel study Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) are used to perform multinomial logistic regression to analyse differences between COVID-19 vaccination supporters, undecided persons and rejectors. The results show that persons exhibiting a low risk assessment toward COVID-19, less health protection behaviors, lower education and belonging to households with financial burdens are significantly more likely to refuse vaccination or be ambivalent. Although multimorbidity reduces risk of vaccination refusal, poor subjective health was significantly related to a higher risk of refusing vaccination. The results point to the importance of addressing the factors related to refusal. Only by understanding these factors will it be possible to increase vaccination rates and thus minimize other restrictive measures.

Poverty in old age in times of COVID-19—Empirical results from Austria

“…Although many older people had chosen to become vaccinated by summer 2021, continuing deficits were noted among the poor group. As a recent study shows, differences in Austria along financial resources persist even after controlling for education and other factors ( 53 ). A mix of factors is probably responsible for this: although vaccinations are free of charge in Austria, they are and have been accessible to varying degrees (e.g., distance to the nearest vaccination center, etc.).…”

“…Paradoxically, this inactivity can be seen on the one hand as an advantage in the pandemic, as costly measures [such as face masks as mentioned in Portacolone et al ( 51 )] may thereby have been used slightly less often. A problematic finding in this context is, that vaccination hesitancy was significantly higher among older adults reporting problems making ends meet or at risk of poverty ( 52 , 53 ) at least in the first year of the pandemic. On the other hand reduced (social) activities may have also brought about negative effects: older people with difficulties to make ends meet had a significantly higher probability of feeling depressed ( 54 , 55 ), anxious ( 55 ) and lonely since the outbreak of the pandemic ( 54 , 56 ) and more often reported decreasing mental health ( 57 , 58 ).…”

Relationships between willingness to get vaccinated against COVID-19, socioeconomic indicators, choices in health behavior, and health information seeking among Estonians aged ≥ 50; pp. 313–321

“…Vaccines have proven to provide a strong defense against severe illness, hospitalization, and death (WHO 2023;CDC 2022;Rashedi et al 2022;Mileto et al 2021;Mostaghimi et al 2021). There is also evidence that the transmission risk is reduced in vaccinated people (Richter et al 2022;Tao et al 2021;Vigezzi and Odone 2022;Vitiello et al 2021). Although older adults have been the most vulnerable to COVID-19, many of them have neglected to get vaccinated against the virus (ECDC 2022; Siu et al 2022;McSpadden 2021).…”

“…To increase vaccination rates and thus minimize other restrictive measures, it is necessary to address the factors related to refusal (Richter et al 2022;Fedele et al 2021). Research indicates that sex, age, race, education level, and income status are determining factors of having a low or high COVID-19 vaccine uptake (Richter et al 2022;Yasmin et al 2021). Men, older persons, educated and wealthier people tend to be more willing to get vaccinated (Zintel et al 2022;Yasmin et al 2021).…”

“…Men, older persons, educated and wealthier people tend to be more willing to get vaccinated (Zintel et al 2022;Yasmin et al 2021). According to Richter et al (2022), those who exhibit a low risk assessment toward COVID-19 and less health protection behaviors are significantly more likely to refuse vaccination or be ambivalent. They also indicate that poor subjective health leads to a higher risk of refusing vaccination (Ibid.).…”