Abstract
During the Covid-19 pandemic, vaccine hesitancy and resistance phenomena generated delays in vaccine uptake and the consequent lifting of policy restrictions. Previous literature identifies several reasons for vaccine refusal or hesitancy such as belief against vaccines, concerns about vaccination safety, and general lack of trust. The current impact of the virus requires countries to maintain a high vaccination coverage to face the possible emergence of new variants and antibodies waning and avoid new societal restrictions. Nevertheless, a significant reduction in vaccine uptake is recorded globally compared to the initial vaccination cycle.
Building on the existing literature we developed a global survey to collect data from the general population across 6 continents to understand this evidence and gain new insights into the vaccine-resistant phenomenon. Respondents were recruited through a specialized market research company from July 2022 to December 2022. Quota sampling based on age, gender and location was used to ensure the representativeness of the data and minimize underrepresented groups of the population. 51,000 respondents from 21 countries (Australia, Brazil, Chile, Croatia, France, India, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Russia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Turkey, UK and the US) are included in the database. Such heterogeneity makes our database unique in terms of both its coverage of geographic regions and inclusion of diversity from cultural, economic and political perspectives.
Preliminary results based on 35,415 respondents in 15 countries show that on average, 82.6% of our sample received at least two doses of the vaccine with significant variations across countries. Considering boosters uptake, the scenario is more blurred with Russia recording the lowest share of people with a booster (15%) followed by Croatia (31.3%) and Slovenia (36.2%). Overall, 8.6% of our sample reports to be no-vax, whilst only 5.58% did not get the vaccine because hesitant. Our dataset provides clear evidence for the decreasing trend in boosters uptake with 16.7% of the overall sample (17.5% among those vaccinated with at least one dose) that stated that they would not take the booster because there is no need for more than two doses. Compared to vaccinated people, vaccine-resistant people report statistically significant lower levels of trust toward public health bodies, newspapers and social media (mean=-1.51, 95% CI = -1.56, -1.47); lower levels of social responsibility (mean=-1,10, 95% CI = -1.13, -1.06); lower levels of education (mean=-1.56, 95% CI = -1.82, -1.30) and income (mean=-0.25, 95% CI = -0.28, -0.23). No difference is found by gender and political orientation. However, significant heterogeneity is found across countries.
Understanding the characteristics, social values and preferences of vaccine-resistant individuals is essential to guide the design of tailored vaccination programs that can support the transition to a “controlled” endemic phase. Our dataset is a unique tool to assist this goal, particularly in the context of closing the gap between the initial vaccination coverage and boosters uptake.