A study of COVID-19 vaccination in the US and Asia: The role of media, personal experiences, and risk perceptions

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000734
• Publication Date: 2022-07-13T17:41:49Z
• Authors: Kaitlyn B. Akel; Grace A. Noppert; Yogambigai Rajamo...; Yihan Lu; Awnish Singh; Harapan Harapan; Hao-Yuan Chang; Felicia Zhang; Shu-Fang Shih; Abram L. Wagner
• Keywords: Risk perception; Family medicine; Sociology and Political Science; Cognitive Neuroscience; FOS: Political science; Immunology; Social Sciences; Logistic regression; FOS: Law; Infectious disease (medical specialty); Vaccine Hesitancy; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Sociology; Pathology; Psychology; Disease; Internal medicine; Political science; Cross-sectional study; Seriousness; Demography; Pandemic; FOS: Clinical medicine; Vaccination; Life Sciences; Trust in Vaccination; The Spread of Misinformation Online; Immunization Coverage; Odds ratio; 3. Good health; FOS: Sociology; Neuroscience of Moral Judgment and Disgust; Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); FOS: Psychology; Environmental health; Risk Perception; Health; Factors Affecting Vaccine Hesitancy and Acceptance; Medicine; Vaccination Intention; Perception; Odds; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Law; Research Article; Neuroscience

The COVID-19 pandemic presents an opportunity to assess the relationship between personal experiences and vaccine decision-making. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between experiences with COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccination status. We administered 28 repeated cross-sectional, online surveys between June 2020 and June 2021 in the US and Asia. The main exposure was media showing COVID-19 cases, and we distinguished those with no such experience, those seeing a not severe case of disease, and those seeing a severe case of disease. Logistic regression models estimated the association between experience and acceptance of a hypothetical COVID-19 vaccine (pre-rollout) or actual vaccination (post-rollout). We explored perceived susceptibility as a potential mediator. Intent to vaccinate was lowest in the US and Taiwan, and highest in India, Indonesia, and China. Across all countries, seeing a severe case of COVID-19 in the media was associated with 1.72 times higher odds of vaccination intent in 2020 (95% CI: 1.46, 2.02) and 2.13 times higher odds of vaccination in 2021 (95% CI: 1.70, 2.67), compared to those not seeing a case or a less severe case. Perceived susceptibility was estimated to mediate 25% of the relationship with hypothetical vaccination (95% CI: 18%, 31%, P<0.0001), and 16% of the relationship with actual vaccination 16% (95% CI: 12%, 19%, P<0.0001). Seriousness of experiences could relate to intention to vaccinate against COVID-19. Media exposures are a modifiable experience, and this study highlights how this experience can relate to risk perceptions and eventual vaccination, across a variety of countries where the course of the pandemic differed.