Patterns of HPV vaccine hesitancy among catch-up generations in Japan: A descriptive study.

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is a preventable disease caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). The HPV vaccine uptake in Japan has been slow since the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare suspended the recommendation for proactive HPV vaccination in 2013. In April 2022, Japan initiated catch-up vaccinations for women who missed the opportunity to receive the HPV vaccine. However, as of September 2022, very few women had received catch-up vaccination, raising concerns about vaccine hesitancy in the target population. It is necessary to understand the thinking and motivation of the target population to develop effective strategies to improve vaccination rates. Therefore, using cluster analysis, this study aimed to clarify the pattern of HPV vaccine hesitancy among the catch-up generations in Japan. METHODS: This descriptive study was based on an Internet survey completed by 3,790 women in Japan aged over 18 years who were eligible for catch-up vaccination and had not yet received an HPV vaccine. Participants were asked about their intention and thinking about the HPV vaccine and descriptive norms on vaccination intention. Cluster analysis using k-means clustering was performed to clarify these patterns. RESULTS: Cluster analysis revealed three hesitancy patterns: acceptance, neutral and refusal. The acceptance group, with high intention, comprised 28.2% of the participants, and students and a high-income level mainly dominated this group. The refusal group, with negative thinking and low intention, accounted for 20.1% and was more prevalent among workers and the unemployed. The neutral group, with neutral thinking and intention, accounted for 51.6%. The perceived effect of descriptive norms on vaccination intention was large in the acceptance group but small in the refusal group. CONCLUSION: HPV vaccine awareness promotion strategies must be based on the characteristics of each group and the different distributions of sociodemographic factors.

Determinants of COVID-19 vaccination readiness

The topic of the COVID-19 vaccination is widely present, and, since many countries struggle with vaccine hesitancy, the aim of this study was to examine determinants of vaccination readiness. The study involved 1,769 participants (76.3% females, 23% males, and 0.7% other) age range from 18 to 77 years. Participants completed online questionnaires related to demographic characteristics, personality traits (neuroticism and consciousness), vaccination readiness scale, and two scenarios related to social relations in the context of attitudes towards vaccination. The results showed that demographic characteristics were significant predictors of vaccination readiness, where women, the elderly, the more educated, those with higher socioeconomic status, and those who were not ill from COVID-19 had higher vaccination readiness. Contrary to expectations, persons high in neuroticism and low in conscientiousness had higher vaccination readiness. Vaccine-acceptant individuals, when compared to vaccine-resistant and vaccine-hesitant individuals, had higher vaccination readiness. Regarding the scenario in which the close person has similar or dissimilar attitudes towards vaccination, the obtained results showed that the manipulation with similar/dissimilar attitude has led to the attribution of different characteristics to close persons. A close person with similar attitudes was assessed more positively than a close person with different attitudes. The results of this study support the fact that individual factors are important for vaccination readiness and that differences in attitudes toward vaccination can affect close social relations, which has not been investigated so far in the context of COVID-19 vaccination. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Vaccination Preparedness in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Published studies from the year 2021, whose data collection took place at the end of 2020 and before the approval of the first COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty, received a great deal of media attention because they concluded, among other things, that homeopathy users in particular were sceptical about COVID-19 vaccination. The studies considered are based on a data collection that took place at a point in time that, from today's perspective, does not provide a basis for deriving statements about the COVID-19 vaccination readiness of individuals in Germany. The state of knowledge in the population regarding the novel vaccine, its efficacy and potential side effects or vaccine damage has changed drastically since then. In addition to the unsuitable survey period, the study has significant methodological shortcomings. For example, vaguely defined selection criteria for some questionnaire items cause potential bias in the results. In the questioning of a potential correlation between homeopathy use and vaccination skepticism, a scientifically demanded analysis for possible third-party variables leading to a spurious correlation was not performed. To then present the correlation as a causal relationship is scientifically inadmissible. Current methodologically valid studies also show that there is no correlation between attitudes toward alternative medicine and vaccination skepticism. Copyright © 2022 Georg Thieme Verlag. All rights reserved.

Barriers and facilitators to the future uptake of regular COVID-19 booster vaccinations among young adults in the UK.

The evidence of waning immunity offered by COVID-19 vaccines suggests that widespread and regular uptake of routine COVID-19 booster vaccines will be needed. In order to understand the hesitancy toward COVID-19 boosters, we examined the barriers and facilitators to receiving regular COVID-19 boosters in a sample of young adults in the UK. A cross-sectional survey was completed by 423 participants (M = 22.8; SD = 8.6 years) and assessed intention to receive regular COVID-19 boosters, the 7C antecedents of vaccination (i.e. confidence, complacency, constraints, calculation, collective responsibility, and compliance and conspiracy), and any previous experience of side-effects from COVID-19 vaccines. Participants also provided a free text qualitative response outlining their barriers and facilitators to receiving regular COVID-19 boosters. Overall, 42.8% of the sample were hesitant about receiving regular COVID-19 boosters. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that intention to accept future boosters was associated with having higher levels of confidence in, and compliance with, vaccines, lower levels of complacency, calculation and perceptions of constraints to vaccination, and having experienced less severe side effects from the COVID-19 vaccines. Qualitative responses highlighted the main barriers included experiencing side effects with previous COVID-19 vaccines and inaccessibility of vaccination services. Key facilitators included protecting the health of friends and family members, protecting personal health, and maintaining regular activities. Our findings suggest that interventions targeted at increasing booster uptake should address the experience of side effects while also emphasizing the positive vaccine benefits relating to the individual's health and the maintenance of their regular work and social activities.

Determinants of COVID-19 Vaccination Readiness

The topic of the COVID-19 vaccination is widely present, and, since many countries struggle with vaccine hesitancy, the aim of this study was to examine determinants of vaccination readiness. The study involved 1,769 participants (76.3% females, 23% males, and 0.7% other) age range from 18 to 77 years. Participants completed online questionnaires related to demographic characteristics, personality traits (neuroticism and consciousness), vaccination readiness scale, and two scenarios related to social relations in the context of attitudes towards vaccination. The results showed that demographic characteristics were significant predictors of vaccination readiness, where women, the elderly, the more educated, those with higher socioeconomic status, and those who were not ill from COVID-19 had higher vaccination readiness. Contrary to expectations, persons high in neuroticism and low in conscientiousness had higher vaccination readiness. Vaccine-acceptant individuals, when compared to vaccine-resistant and vaccine-hesitant individuals, had higher vaccination readiness. Regarding the scenario in which the close person has similar or dissimilar attitudes towards vaccination, the obtained results showed that the manipulation with similar/dissimilar attitude has led to the attribution of different characteristics to close persons. A close person with similar attitudes was assessed more positively than a close person with different attitudes. The results of this study support the fact that individual factors are important for vaccination readiness and that differences in attitudes toward vaccination can affect close social relations, which has not been investigated so far in the context of COVID-19 vaccination. © 2022, University of Rijeka. All rights reserved.

Measuring parents' readiness to vaccinate themselves and their children against COVID-19.

To reach high vaccination rates against COVID-19, children and adolescents should be also vaccinated. To improve childhood vaccination rates and vaccination readiness, parents need to be addressed since they decide about the vaccination of their children. We adapted the 7C of vaccination readiness scale to measure parents' readiness to vaccinate their children and evaluated the scale in a long and a short version in two studies. The study was first evaluated with a sample of N = 244 parents from the German COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring (COSMO) and validated with N = 464 parents from the Danish COSMO. The childhood 7C scale showed acceptable to good psychometric properties in both samples and explained more than 80% of the variance in vaccination intentions. Additionally, differences in parents' readiness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 were strongly determined by their readiness to vaccinate themselves, explaining 64% of the variance. Vaccination readiness and intentions for children changed as a function of the children's age explaining 93% of differences between parents in their vaccination intentions for their children. Finally, we found differences in correlations of components with self- versus childhood vaccination, as well as between the children's age groups in the prediction of vaccination intentions. Thus, parents need to be targeted in specifically tailored ways, based on the age of their child, to reach high vaccination rates in children. The scale is publicly available in several languages (www.vaccination-readiness.com).

Data-Driven Decision Making and Proactive Citizen-Scientist Communication: A Cross-Sectional Study on COVID-19 Vaccination Adherence.

Due to the severe impact of COVID-19 on public health, rollout of the vaccines must be large-scale. Current solutions are not intended to promote an active collaboration between communities and public health researchers. We aimed to develop a digital platform for communication between scientists and the general population, and to use it for an exploratory study on factors associated with vaccination readiness. The digital platform was developed in Latvia and was equipped with dynamic consent management. During a period of six weeks 467 participants were enrolled in the population-based cross-sectional exploratory study using this platform. We assessed demographics, COVID-19-related behavioral and personal factors, and reasons for vaccination. Logistic regression models adjusted for the level of education, anxiety, factors affecting the motivation to vaccinate, and risk of infection/severe disease were built to investigate their association with vaccination readiness. In the fully adjusted multiple logistic regression model, factors associated with vaccination readiness were anxiety (odds ratio, OR = 3.09 [95% confidence interval 1.88; 5.09]), feelings of social responsibility (OR = 1.61 [1.16; 2.22]), and trust in pharmaceutical companies (OR = 1.53 [1.03; 2.27]). The assessment of a large number of participants in a six-week period show the potential of a digital platform to create a data-driven dialogue on vaccination readiness.