Passport to a Mighty Nation: Exploring Sociocultural Foundation of Chinese Public’s Attitude to COVID-19 Vaccine Certificates

Abstract

Vaccination against COVID-19 is essential against the pandemic. There are broad discussions on adopting certificates for vaccination and the immunity obtained after infection. Based on a national sample of over 2000 participants administered in April 2021, the current study examines the Chinese public’s attitudes to the so-called COVID-19 vaccination passport and factors contributing to their viewpoints. Generally, the Chinese people had favorable opinions on the passport. Among possible contributing factors, income, personal benefit perception, the subjective norm of COVID-19 vaccination, and nationalism were significantly associated with the public’s positive attitude. At the same time, general vaccine knowledge and scientific literacy had an inconstant effect. Echoing recent studies, these findings reveal a collectivism-oriented attitude of the Chinese public towards the proposal to certify vaccination publicly. Theoretical and practical implications of the results were discussed.

Factors associated with the opposition to COVID-19 vaccination certificates: A multi-country observational study from Asia

“…The perception of receiving personal benefits among the public has been identified as a significant predictor of positive attitudes towards CVCs [ 23 ]. Hence, we added a variable on whether CVCs is likely to bring financial benefits to participants occupational sector and postulated that those perceiving no financial benefits would be more likely to oppose CVCs.…”

“…However, the majority of these studies have been western-centric, and their findings may not be generalisable to Asia given contextual differences such as vaccination rates, trust in government, tolerance for and adherence to restrictive COVID-19 policies, dependency on tourism among others [ 12 , 21 , 22 ]. A cross-sectional survey in China found widespread support for CVCs, possibly linked to adherence to national policy, but factors associated with opposition to CVCs were not explored in detail [ 23 ]. Identifying groups in Asian societies who are opposed to CVCs and understanding their reasons are necessary steps towards addressing public concerns and harmonising an effective CVCs policy in the region.…”

Government Communication, Perceptions of COVID-19, and Vaccination Intention: A Multi-Group Comparison in China

“…In this sense, vaccination is a patriotic act in abiding by the suggestion of the government of "prevention is better than cure." Hu et al (2021) discovered that the Chinese people express collectivism-oriented opinions on COVID-19 vaccination and have favorable attitudes toward the COVID-19 immunity certificate (passport).…”

More engagement but less participation: China’s alternative approach to public communication of science and technology

“…The announcement came at a time when China had successfully controlled the disastrous COVID-19 pandemic. Although the pandemic control was essentially a result of massive lockdown measures, Chinese people have shown an extremely high level of voluntary compliance with measures to control the disease (Hu et al, 2021; Jia and Luo, 2021).…”

“…Findings linking Chinese citizens’ nationalism and their COVID-19 preventive behaviors (Hu et al, 2021; Jia and Luo, 2021) prompts speculation about relationships between health behavior and other cultural values, in particular, that of collectivism, which are generally neglected in mainstream models for health behaviors, such as the theory of planned behavior or health belief model. Although during health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, collectivism’s link to health behaviors is not unique to China (Lu et al, 2021); the high-profile encouragement of collectivism by the country’s official ideology and cultural tradition may also lead the value to play a role in other more regular healthcare and science-learning settings.…”