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

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.

Factors Influencing COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence and Uptake in Australian Adults

“…Similar results were reported in an international cross-sectional study conducted in Australia, Norway, the UK, and the US (2021–2022), which found that among those who had received a COVID-19 vaccine ( n = 1396), the most common motivation reasons were to reduce their risk of illness (86%) and for the health of others (74%) [ 26 ]. Likewise, a survey of Australian adults in 2022 found that among those classified as vaccine-acceptant ( n = 353), protecting oneself and others was the key reason for receiving the primary vaccination series [ 27 ]. Interestingly, in this study, respondents who were older (≥50 years of age) or religious were more likely to be motivated by altruistic notions of protecting others, while those with university degrees were more motivated by the protection of themselves.…”

A systematic approach to microbial forensics

“…Outside Asia, the idea of rigorous civilian lockdowns and mandatory mask wearing was foreign in 2020. The public health messaging about preventive measures met with significant hostility in developed countries [35] and may have contributed an additional layer to conspiracy theories in circulation [36]. The introduction of effective vaccines met with considerable community resistance and may in turn have contributed to selection of virus escape mutants.…”

COVID-19 and influenza vaccine-hesitancy subgroups

“…Our literature search for studies that have examined COVID-19 and influenza vaccine-hesitancy subgroups revealed 38 articles published before 19.6.2023 (see S4 File for a list of the articles found in the systematic search). The studies have included a wide range of variables in their cluster analyses, ranging from vaccine attitudes [ 33 ] and health behaviors [ 34 ] to conspiracy beliefs [ 35 ] and political orientations [ 6 ]. Furthermore, a variety of statistical clustering methods, such as K-means [ 36 ], hierarchical cluster analysis [ 37 ], and latent profile analysis [ 38 ], have been used.…”

“…In the following, we focus on studies that construct subgroups based on COVID-19 and influenza variables. There are several studies that have identified subgroups based on attitudes, intentions and behaviors related to COVID-19 vaccines [ 6 , 33 , 34 , 38 , 39 , 42 – 58 ]. For example, Falcon and colleagues [ 39 ] analyzed Spanish, vaccine-hesitant individuals’ reasons for not being vaccinated against COVID-19 and identified two subgroups of individuals: those reluctant to get vaccinated because of health-related issues (e.g., pregnancy or having already been infected with COVID-19) and those expressing distrust in the vaccines and their development, beliefs in conspiracy theories, and low perceived disease risk.…”