Older adults' acceptance of the COVID‐19 vaccine: Application of the health belief model

Abstract

AimsTo determine the prevalence of COVID‐19 vaccination acceptance among older adults and the factors that independently predict vaccine acceptance using the Health Belief Model (HBM).DesignThis was a cross‐sectional, descriptive study.MethodsConsenting older adults aged 60 years and older (n = 384) from Primary Health Care Centers in rural and urban areas of Mansoura District, Egypt, who could interact adequately with researchers participated in the study. The data were collected through an electronic questionnaire that included socio‐demographic data, health‐related characteristics, and health beliefs based on the HBM framework.ResultsOverall, 46.9% were willing to receive the COVID‐19 vaccine, 19.5% declined, and 33.6% were undecided. Higher perceptions of COVID‐19 severity, vaccine benefits, and action cues were associated with vaccine acceptance (p = 0.05).Public ContributionVaccination campaigns that highlight the benefits of immunization should be prioritized by policymakers. In addition, vaccinated peoples should use social media to spread awareness about the advantages and challenges of vaccination. Nurse leaders should apply the HBM to forecast health‐related behaviors, especially vaccination attitudes.

Quantitative Synthesis of Factors Associated with COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance and Vaccine Hesitancy in 185 Countries

“…Among the factors that were identified in this synthesis that can increase the odds of high VA, the only factor that increased that odds in a statistically significant manner was being an older person. This confirms that older person is a factor associated with VA as identified by other studies [ 142 , 143 , 144 , 145 , 146 ]. This is probably because older persons are more prone to other diseases, leading to comorbidities due to the aging immune system [ 147 , 148 , 149 , 150 , 151 ].…”

The Fear of SARS-CoV-2 Infection versus the Perception of COVID-19 Vaccination amongst Older Adults in Urban Areas (CoV-VAC-PL Study): A Polish Community-Based Study

“…The educational status of the study respondents has also been an extremely important factor in determining attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination because older adults with higher educational status have shown more positive attitudes toward vaccines, and those relationships in terms of the DrVac-COVID-19S have been statistically significant. Those results are cohesive with those arising from numerous other studies [ 63 , 69 , 70 , 72 , 73 ]. This may be corresponding with the fact that the respondents with higher education may have better access to reliable and credible information on the vaccine against COVID-19.…”

“…Our study has indicated that older adult men show more positive attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination than the older adult women. Ibrahim et al [ 63 ] arrived at the same conclusions. Accordingly, a European study revealed uncertainty amongst females in all age groups as far as COVID-19 vaccination is concerned [ 65 ].…”

“…In our study, we found that attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination are the most positive among the respondents aged 70–79 years, and the most negative are in the age group of 60–69 years old. In the study conducted by Ibrahim et al [ 63 ], the COVID-19 vaccination acceptance rate was the highest among respondents aged 60–75 years and became lower the older the respondent. Related publications have proven that the COVID-19 vaccination acceptance rate among the individuals aged 75 years and older is significantly lower as compared to older adults aged 65–74 years [ 64 ].…”

Características epidemiológicas de pacientes con COVID-19 en el Hospital Regional de Encarnación, Paraguay, entre 2021 y 2023

“…Una investigación realizada en República Dominicana sobre la percepción de la población sobre la vacuna contra el COVID-19 había informado de 44,7% que respondieron afirmativamente a la eventual aplicación de la vacuna, 38,3% que no estaba seguro y 17% que respondió de forma negativa y que lo asociaron a la (1) (23) aparición de efectos adversos . Un trabajo realizado por Askarian et al en Irán determinó que el 82,5% de una muestra de 1041 adultos expreso su deseo de recibir la dosis de refuerzo de la vacuna (28) contra el COVID-19. Ibrahim et al en un estudio sobre la aceptación de la vacunación contra COVID-19 en adultos mayores informó que el 46,9% estaba dispuesta a recibir la vacuna, el 19,5% se negó y el 33,6% estaba indeciso.…”