Detecting and describing stability and change in COVID-19 vaccine receptibility in the United Kingdom and Ireland

Philip Hyland; Frédérique Vallières; Todd K Hartman; Ryan McKay; Sarah Butter; Richard P Bentall; Orla McBride; Mark Shevlin; Kate Bennett; Liam Mason; Jilly Gibson-Miller; Liat Levita; Anton P Martinez; Thomas V A Stocks; Thanos Karatzias; Jamie Murphy

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0258871

Detecting and describing stability and change in COVID-19 vaccine receptibility in the United Kingdom and Ireland

PLoS One. 2021 Nov 3;16(11):e0258871. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258871. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Ireland.
² Trinity Centre for Global Health, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
³ Sheffield Methods Institute, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, England.
⁴ Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, London, England.
⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, England.
⁶ School of Psychology, Ulster University, Ulster, Northern Ireland.
⁷ School of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, England.
⁸ Clinical, Education & Health Psychology, University College London, London, England.
⁹ School of Health and Social Care, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Abstract

COVID-19 continues to pose a threat to global public health. Multiple safe and effective vaccines against COVID-19 are available with one-third of the global population now vaccinated. Achieving a sufficient level of vaccine coverage to suppress COVID-19 requires, in part, sufficient acceptance among the public. However, relatively high rates of hesitance and resistance to COVID-19 vaccination persists, threating public health efforts to achieve vaccine-induced population protection. In this study, we examined longitudinal changes in COVID-19 vaccine acceptance, hesitance, and resistance in two nations (the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) during the first nine months of the pandemic, and identified individual and psychological factors associated with consistent non-acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination. Using nationally representative, longitudinal data from the United Kingdom (UK; N = 2025) and Ireland (N = 1041), we found that (1) COVID-19 vaccine acceptance declined in the UK and remained unchanged in Ireland following the emergence of approved vaccines; (2) multiple subgroups existed reflecting people who were consistently willing to be vaccinated ('Accepters': 68% in the UK and 61% in Ireland), consistently unwilling to be vaccinated ('Deniers': 12% in the UK and 16% in Ireland), and who fluctuated over time ('Moveable Middle': 20% in the UK and 23% in Ireland); and (3) the 'deniers' and 'moveable middle' were distinguishable from the 'accepters' on a range of individual (e.g., younger, low income, living alone) and psychological (e.g., distrust of scientists and doctors, conspiracy mindedness) factors. The use of two high-income, Western European nations limits the generalizability of these findings. Nevertheless, understanding how receptibility to COVID-19 vaccination changes as the pandemic unfolds, and the factors that distinguish and characterise those that are hesitant and resistant to vaccination is helpful for public health efforts to achieve vaccine-induced population protection against COVID-19.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
COVID-19 / prevention & control*
COVID-19 / psychology
COVID-19 Vaccines*
Female
Humans
Ireland
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Middle Aged
Patient Acceptance of Health Care*
Politics
Socioeconomic Factors
Time Factors
United Kingdom
Young Adult

Substances

COVID-19 Vaccines

Grants and funding

UK Research and Innovation/Economic and Social Research Council funding for the UK strand of this study was obtained in May 2020 (grant number ES/V004379/1) and awarded to RPB, TKH, LL, JGM, MS, JM, OM, KB and LM. The Irish strand of this study was funded by the Health Research Board and the Irish Research Council under the COVID-19 Pandemic Rapid Response Funding Call [COV19-2020-025] awarded to PH. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.