Denial of Justification for Vaccination: Its Multiple Related Variables and Impacts on Intention to Get Vaccinated against COVID-19.

ABSTRACT

The aims of the present study were (1) to identify the variables related to denying the justification for vaccination during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Taiwan and (2) to examine the associations of such denial with perceived risk of COVID-19 and the extrinsic and intrinsic intentions to get vaccinated against COVID-19. We recruited 1047 participants by using a Facebook advertisement. We investigated whether the participants denied justification for vaccination as well as their sociodemographic characteristics, mental health status, sources of information about COVID-19 vaccination, perceived risk of COVID-19, and extrinsic and intrinsic intentions to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The results indicated that 20.0% of the participants denied justification for vaccination. Participants who were older, had an educational level below college, were not health care workers, were in poor general mental health state, or did not obtain information about COVID-19 vaccination from the Internet were more likely to deny justification for vaccination. Denial was negatively associated with both extrinsic and intrinsic intentions to get vaccinated against COVID-19 but not associated with the perceived risk of COVID-19. Multiple variables related to denying the justification for vaccination; the denial was negatively associated with the intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19.