Aim
We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to analyse gender differences in COVID-19 vaccination intentions.
Subject and methods
PubMed, Web of Science and PsycInfo were searched (November 2020 to January 2021) for studies reporting absolute frequencies of COVID-19 vaccination intentions by gender. Averaged odds ratios comparing vaccination intentions among men and women were computed. Descriptive analyses of the studies were reported.
Results
Sixty studies were included in the review and data from 46 studies (n = 141,550) were available for meta-analysis. A majority (58%) of papers reported men to have higher intentions to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Meta-analytic calculations showed that significantly fewer women stated that they would get vaccinated than men, OR 1.41 (95% CI 1.28 to 1.55). This effect was evident in several countries, and the difference was bigger in samples of health care workers than in unspecified general population samples.
Conclusion
This systematic review and meta-analysis found lower vaccination intentions among women than men. This difference is discussed in the light of recent data on actual vaccination rates in different countries.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The goal of our study was to examine the intention to get vaccinated using predictors from the 5C Model of Vaccination Attitudes, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Health Belief Model (HBM). Between August and November 2020, an online survey was delivered to 1428 participants in the UK and Germany (mean age = 40.6; 57% women), assessing socio-demographic and health factors, general vaccination attitudes, TBP and HBM variables and COVID-19 vaccination intention. Vaccination intentions did not differ by country or survey period. Predictors of intention with highest explanatory power in a relative weight analysis were confidence, collective responsibility (5C) perceived behavioral control, social norms, attitudes (especially negative affect & TPB cognitions) and perceived benefits (HBM).Women reported lower intention, although the effect size was small. Predictors from the TPB and HBM were effective to explain the intention to receive COVID-19 vaccines over and above socio-demographic, variables, health related factors and general vaccination attitudes.The results are interpreted in the light of current vaccination campaigns. Messages promoting sense of autonomy and control over the decision to get vaccinated, approval from significant others and reassurance that getting vaccinated will not be associated with fear or other negative feelings are important factors for vaccine uptake.
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