Vaccination willingness, vaccine hesitancy, and estimated coverage at the first round of COVID-19 vaccination in China: A national cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become an important public health solution. To date, there has been a lack of data on COVID-19 vaccination willingness, vaccine hesitancy, and vaccination coverage in China since the vaccine has become available. Methods We designed and implemented a cross-sectional, population-based online survey to evaluate the willingness, hesitancy, and coverage of the COVID-19 vaccine among the Chinese population. 8742 valid samples were recruited and classified as the vaccine-priority group (n = 3902; 44.6%) and the non-priority group (n = 4840; 55.4%). Results The proportion of people’s trust in the vaccine, delivery system, and government were 69.0%, 78.0% and 81.3%, respectively. 67.1% of the participants were reportedly willing to accept the COVID-19 vaccination, while 9.0% refused it. 834 (35.5%) reported vaccine hesitancy, including acceptors with doubts (48.8%), refusers (39.4%), and delayers (11.8%). The current coverage was 34.4%, far from reaching the requirements of herd immunity. The predicted rate of COVID-19 vaccination was 64.9%, 68.9% and 81.1% based on the rates of vaccine hesitancy, willingness, and refusal, respectively. Conclusions The COVID-19 vaccine rate is far from reaching the requirements of herd immunity, which will require more flexible and comprehensive efforts to improve the population’s confidence and willingness to vaccinate. It should be highlighted that vaccination alone is insufficient to stop the pandemic; further efforts are needed not only to increase vaccination coverage but also to maintain non-specific prevention strategies.

Herd immunity induced by COVID-19 vaccination programs and suppression of epidemics caused by the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in China

“…A key role to determine whether herd immunity can be reached is played by the willingness-to-vaccine of the population. According to previous surveys on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, vaccine acceptance in China was estimated to vary between 60.4% and 91.3% for general population aged 18 years and above [29][30][31][32] , and may be even lower for older adults 32 and healthcare workers 33 . Similar estimates were obtained for several other countries including the UK (71.5%) 34 and the US (75.4%) 34 .…”

Factors Affecting Hesitancy to mRNA and Viral Vector COVID-19 Vaccines among College Students in Italy

“…These findings are in line with previous studies which showed that individuals with greater COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy have reported greater concerns about vaccine safety generally [ 44 ], and vaccine attributes posed prevalent concerns due to the novelty of COVID-19 vaccines [ 6 ]. A large survey in China [ 45 ] showed that 35.5% of participants in January 2021 reported vaccine hesitancy, and its most prevalent reason was concern about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine and the low efficacy of the vaccine. However, there is evidence of substantial variations in COVID-19 vaccine acceptance between countries and subgroups, as well as in psychosocial predictors of vaccine hesitancy [ 6 ].…”

Non-EPI Vaccine Hesitancy among Chinese Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Wang’s research showed similar results: that vaccine confidence rates increased with increasing age ( p < 0.05) and older people (age ≥ 65) showed the lowest rate of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Additionally, distrust in the vaccine, the delivery system, and the government were all associated with younger age, which contributed to vaccine hesitancy [ 20 ].…”