[Prevalence of COVID-19 vaccination and approval rating of the social implementation of its certification: the Japan COVID-19 and Society Internet Survey (JACSIS) in September and October 2021].

ABSTRACT

Objective　We aimed to investigate the prevalence of COVID-19 vaccination and approval rating of the social implementation of its certification to stimulate economic activities such as travel and restaurant use ("vaccine passport").Methods　Using data from the Japan COVID-19 and Society Internet Survey (JACSIS) conducted in September-October 2021, we calculated the prevalence of the COVID-19 vaccination and prevalence ratios by educational level and occupation. We also analyzed the reasons for (not) being vaccinated. In addition, we examined the association between the percentage of respondents who thought that the "vaccine passport" should be used for economic recovery and socioeconomic status/trust in government vaccine information.Results　Of 27,423 survey participants (aged 20-79 years; 13,884 women and 13,539 men), the prevalence of COVID-19 vaccination was 74.8%, whereas 1,695 (6.2%) "wanted to be vaccinated after seeing how it went," and 1,742 (6.3%) indicated an "unwillingness to vaccinate." The prevalence of COVID-19 vaccination did not differ between women and men. In addition, the prevalence among people who graduated from university/graduate school was significantly higher than that of high school graduates (adjusted prevalence ratio, 1.09; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.07-1.12). Regarding occupation, the adjusted prevalence ratio of "professional/technical" to "office workers" was 1.05 (95% CI 1.01-1.07). Among the "vaccinated (twice)" group, the most common reason for vaccination was "do not want to infect family members or others" (53.0%). Among the "unwillingness to vaccinate" group, the largest percentage indicated "because I am worried about adverse reactions" (44.5%). Among the "unwillingness to vaccinate" group, only 12.2% of respondents answered that the "vaccine passport" should be utilized for economic recovery, while 41.8% of the "vaccinated (twice)" group agreed with having the "vaccine passport" (adjusted prevalence ratio, 0.30; 95% CI 0.25-0.37). By occupation, the highest percentage was the "sales and marketing" workers (40.4%). This proportion was significantly higher in the "strongly or fairly agree" group (49.5%) for the reliability of vaccine information from the government than in the "neither agree nor disagree" group (27.5%, P<0.01).Conclusion　Differences in the prevalence of COVID-19 vaccination were found by socioeconomic status. In addition, trust in government information was associated with an approval rating of the social implementation of the "vaccine passport" in Japan. However, the results suggest that citizens' expectations and interests are not high regarding the use of the "vaccine passport" to stimulate economic activity.