Determinants of COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: A Cross-Sectional Study on a Mexican Population Using an Online Questionnaire (COV-AHQ)

Abstract

Mexico has become one of the most highly affected countries by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Latin America. Therefore, efficient vaccination programs are needed to address COVID-19 pandemic. Although recent advances around the world have made it possible to develop vaccines in record time, there has been increasing fear and misinformation around the vaccines. Hence, understanding vaccine hesitancy is imperative for modeling successful vaccination strategies. In this study, we analyzed the attitude and perceptions toward COVID-19 vaccination, in a Mexican population (n = 1,512), using the proposed COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance and Hesitancy Questionnaire (COV-AHQ) (Cronbach's alpha > 0.8), which evaluates a mild perception of danger and contamination with respect to COVID-19, a moderate perception of xenophobia generated throughout COVID-19 quarantine, fear of adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccination, and hesitancy of parent toward vaccination of children; furthermore, a section including sociodemographic variables was included. According to the results of this study, the statistical correlation analysis of the general vaccination posture seems to correlate significantly (p < 0.05) with a mild perception of danger and contamination with respect to COVID-19, a moderate perception of xenophobia generated throughout COVID-19 quarantine, hesitancy of parent toward vaccination of children, willingness to get COVID-19 vaccine, previous influenza vaccination, perception of the vaccine that could help the economy of country, occupation, gender, age, and participants actively researching COVID-19 vaccine information. An in-depth analysis assisted by binary logistic regression concluded that the young adult population around ages 18–34 years are the most likely to get vaccinated. This posture seems to be highly influenced by a mild perception of danger and contamination with respect to COVID-19, a moderate perception of xenophobia generated throughout COVID-19 quarantine, fear of adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccination, and hesitancy of parents toward vaccination of children. While their own personal religious beliefs and economic status, the level of education does not seem to have an effect on the willingness to get vaccinated neither did having a previous COVID-19 diagnosis or even knowing someone with a positive COVID-19 diagnosis. Health authorities and policymakers could use the results of this study to aid in modeling vaccination programs and strategies and identify population groups with high vaccine hesitancy prevalence and assess significant public health issues.

Predictors of COVID-19 Stress and COVID-19 Vaccination Acceptance among Adolescents in Ghana

“…This shows that appropriate levels of danger and contamination fears may be imbued into information on COVID-19 vaccination by health professionals and educators to help influence adolescents' acceptance of vaccination. In fact, a previous study revealed that danger and contamination concerning COVID-19, irrespective of the severity (i.e., mild, moderate, and severe), positively influenced COVID-19 vaccination intent [62]. Moreover, traumatic stress, another subscale of COVID-19 stress, was found to negatively predict COVID-19 vaccination acceptance.…”

“…Measurement scales have been developed to assess COVID-19 vaccination acceptance [49][50][51][52], which have helped researchers to objectively examine COVID-19 vaccination acceptance in various countries. Factors influencing COVID-19 vaccinations seem to be wide and varied, from external factors such as the culture, political governance, gross domestic product, and inter-country relationships [53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61] to internal or personal factors such as age, sex, educational levels, profession, and lifestyle behaviours [53,54,[56][57][58]61,62]. For instance, previous studies have reported sex differences in COVID-19 attitudes and behaviours [63,64], leading to sex differences in COVID-19 infection [65], although other studies revealed contradictory findings on COVID-19 vaccine acceptance [61,66,67].…”

Parent’s Perspective towards Child COVID-19 Vaccination: An Online Cross-Sectional Study in Mexico

“…The present study derives from the application of the online COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance & Hesitancy Questionnaire, or COV-AHQ (Cronbach’s alpha > 0.8) [ 27 ], which was designed based on the initial and Adapted COVID-19 Stress Scales (CSS and ACSS) [ 28 , 29 , 30 ] and the Vaccine Hesitancy Scales (VHS) [ 22 ]. For the present study, we took into consideration only the subpopulation of participants with the criteria of answering yes to having children.…”

The COVID-19 vaccine concerns scale: Development and validation of a new measure

“…Many of the available scales had adapted existing surveys related to perspectives on general vaccine hesitancy or childhood vaccination. 17 , 37 , 38 Those scales that were developed specifically for COVID-19 vaccines have limitations, including wording that is outdated in light of the current availability of a vaccine (e.g., “If a COVID-19 vaccine was available at my local pharmacy, I would … ”), 16 not considering specific COVID-19 vaccine concerns, 19 only focusing on one aspect of concerns (adverse effects of the vaccine), 20 or being lengthy. Our survey adds to these resources by providing a succinct tool to assess topics specifically relevant to our evolving discovery of individuals’ perspectives that impact COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, such as the role of existing immunity, new vaccine technology, and conspiracy theories.…”

“…However, while these measures assess one’s hesitancy to get vaccinated, they do not provide an understanding of the root causes of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Some recent scales have been developed that include items to examine contributors to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, 20 , 21 but thus far, items in these scales tend to be those that are common to general vaccine hesitancy (e.g., adverse reactions, side effects) and not reflective of the nuanced hesitancy that surrounds COVID-19 vaccines.…”