Willingness to get vaccinated against Covid-19 and attitudes towards vaccination in general

Kessels, Roselinde; Luyten, Jeroen; Tubeuf, Sandy

BACKGROUND: High uptake of Covid-19 vaccination is required to reach herd immunity. METHODS: A representative sample of 2,060 Belgians were surveyed in October 2020. Regression analyses identified the predictors associated with willingness to get vaccinated against Covid-19, and attitudes toward vaccination in general. RESULTS: 34% of the participants reported that they will definitely get vaccinated against Covid-19 and 39% that they would “probably”. Intended uptake was strongly associated with age, opinion on the government’s dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, medical risk, spoken language, gender, and to a lesser extent with having known someone who was hospitalised because of Covid-19. Similar predictors were identified for attitudes to vaccination in general. Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy was more marked in age groups below 54 years old. We further analysed a sample of 17% (N=349) found favourable to vaccination in general but not willing to vaccinate against Covid-19. They were mainly female, young, French speaking, slightly less educated, working, and did not belong to a Covid-19 risk group. They were very dissatisfied with the government’s dealing with the pandemic, and did not know someone who was hospitalised because of Covid-19. CONCLUSIONS: Vaccine hesitancy is higher for Covid-19 vaccines than for other vaccines. The part of the population being convinced of the utility of vaccination in general but hesitant about the Covid-19 vaccine is a primary interest group for tailored communication campaigns in order to reach the vaccine coverage needed for herd immunity.