Objective: This study examined the willingness to get vaccinated and the factors influencing this attitude in extreme settings-in the Czech Republic (at the time of the survey, the third-worst affected country in the world). Methods: We used national data from the general adult Czech population (N = 1,401) and measured attitudes towards vaccination, sociodemographic characteristics, government trust, knowledge about COVID-19 vaccines, personal characteristics, depression and anxiety. Results: Respondents who were more likely to refuse the vaccine were: female, younger, living without a partner, self-employed or unemployed, living in a town, believers outside the church, and did not trust the government, obtained information about the vaccine from social media, were extroverts and depressed. Conversely, respondents who were less likely to refuse the vaccine were: pensioners, people with higher education, respondents with better real knowledge about the COVID-19 vaccines, those who obtained information about the vaccine from an expert and those who had higher scores in neuroticism. Conclusion: This study thus offers a deeper understanding of the factors that might influence vaccine intention and subsequently the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Department of Community and Occupational Medicine University Medical Center Groningen University of Groningen Groningen Netherlands

Graduate School Kosice Institute for Society and Health P J Safarik University in Kosice Kosice Slovakia

Olomouc University Social Health Institute Palacký University Olomouc Olomouc Czechia

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Wang C, Horby PW, Hayden FG, Gao GF. A Novel Coronavirus Outbreak of Global Health Concern. Lancet (2020) 395:470–3. 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30185-9 PubMed DOI PMC

Baden LR, El Sahly HM, Essink B, Kotloff K, Frey S, Novak R, et al. Efficacy and Safety of the MRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine. New Engl J Med (2021) 384:403–16. 10.1056/NEJMoa2035389 PubMed DOI PMC

European Medicines Agency. COVID-19 Vaccines (2021). Available online: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/human-regulatory/overview/public-health-threats/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/treatments-vaccines/covid-19-vaccines (Accessed on June 7th, 2021).

KadkhodaHerd K. Immunity to COVID-19: Alluring and Elusive. Am J Clin Pathol (2021) 155:471–2. 10.1093/ajcp/aqaa272 PubMed DOI PMC

MacIntyre CR, Costantino V, Trent M. Modelling of COVID-19 Vaccination Strategies and Herd Immunity. In: Scenarios of Limited and Full Vaccine Supply. NSW, Australia: (2021). Vaccine. 10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.04.042 PubMed DOI PMC

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Vaccine Hesitancy Among Healthcare Workers and Their Patients in Europe: A Qualitative Study (2015). Available online: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/vaccine-hesitancy-among-healthcare-workers-and-their-patients-europe (Accessed on May 20th, 2022).

Lin C, Tu P, Beitsch LM. Confidence and Receptivity for COVID-19 Vaccines: A Rapid Systematic Review. Vaccines (Basel) (2020) 9:16. 10.3390/vaccines9010016 PubMed DOI PMC

World Health Organization. WHO. Ten Threats to Global Health in 2019 (2022). Available online: https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/ten-threats-to-global-health-in-2019 (Accessed on May 20th, 2022).

Pogue K, Jensen JL, Stancil CK, Ferguson DG, Hughes SJ, Mello EJ, et al. Influences on Attitudes Regarding Potential COVID-19 Vaccination in the United States. Vaccines (Basel) (2020) 8:E582. 10.3390/vaccines8040582 PubMed DOI PMC

Yoda T, Katsuyama H. Willingness to Receive COVID-19 Vaccination in Japan. Vaccines (2021) 9:48. 10.3390/vaccines9010048 PubMed DOI PMC

Reiter PL, Pennell ML, Katz ML. Acceptability of a COVID-19 Vaccine Among Adults in the United States: How Many People Would Get Vaccinated? Vaccine (2020) 38:6500–7. 10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.08.043 PubMed DOI PMC

Browne M, Thomson P, Rockloff MJ, Pennycook G. Going against the Herd: Psychological and Cultural Factors Underlying the ‘Vaccination Confidence Gap. PLOS ONE (2015) 10:e0132562. 10.1371/journal.pone.0132562 PubMed DOI PMC

Pomares TD, Buttenheim AM, Amin AB, Joyce CM, Porter RM, Bednarczyk RA, et al. Association of Cognitive Biases with Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Hesitancy: A Cross-Sectional Study. Hum Vaccin Immunother (2019) 16:1018–23. 10.1080/21645515.2019.1698243 PubMed DOI PMC

Hornsey MJ, Harris EA, Fielding KS. The Psychological Roots of Anti-vaccination Attitudes: A 24-Nation Investigation. Health Psychol (2018) 37:307–15. 10.1037/hea0000586 PubMed DOI

Dubé E, Gagnon D, MacDonald NE. SAGE Working Group on Vaccine Hesitancy. Strategies Intended to Address Vaccine Hesitancy: Review of Published Reviews. Vaccine (2015) 33:4191–203. 10.1016/j.vaccine.2015.04.041 PubMed DOI

Larson HJ, Jarrett C, Schulz WS, Chaudhuri M, Zhou Y, Dube E, et al. Measuring Vaccine Hesitancy: The Development of a Survey Tool. Vaccine (2015) 33:4165–75. 10.1016/j.vaccine.2015.04.037 PubMed DOI

Schwarzinger M, Watson V, Arwidson P, Alla F, Luchini S. COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in a Representative Working-Age Population in France: A Survey Experiment Based on Vaccine Characteristics. The Lancet Public Health (2021) 6:e210–e221. 10.1016/S2468-2667(21)00012-8 PubMed DOI PMC

Kelly BJ, Southwell BG, McCormack LA, Bann CM, MacDonald PDM, Frasier AM, et al. Predictors of Willingness to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine in the U.S. BMC Infect Dis (2021) 21:338. 10.1186/s12879-021-06023-9 PubMed DOI PMC

Freeman D, Loe BS, Chadwick A, Vaccari C, Waite F, Rosebrock L, et al. COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in the UK: The Oxford Coronavirus Explanations, Attitudes, and Narratives Survey (Oceans) II. Psychol Med (2020) 52:3127–41. 10.1017/S0033291720005188 PubMed DOI PMC

Mahmud S, Mohsin M, Khan IA, Mian AU, Zaman MA. Knowledge, Beliefs, Attitudes and Perceived Risk about COVID-19 Vaccine and Determinants of COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance in Bangladesh. PLOS ONE (2021) 16:e0257096. 10.1371/journal.pone.0257096 PubMed DOI PMC

Soares P, Rocha JV, Moniz M, Gama A, Laires PA, Pedro AR, et al. Factors Associated with COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy. Vaccines (2021) 9:300. 10.3390/vaccines9030300 PubMed DOI PMC

Kosarkova A, Malinakova K, van Dijk JP, Tavel P. Vaccine Refusal in the Czech Republic Is Associated with Being Spiritual but Not Religiously Affiliated. Vaccines (2021) 9:1157. 10.3390/vaccines9101157 PubMed DOI PMC

Troiano G, Nardi A. Vaccine Hesitancy in the Era of COVID-19. Public Health (2021) 194:245–51. 10.1016/j.puhe.2021.02.025 PubMed DOI PMC

Enea V, Eisenbeck N, Carreno DF, Douglas KM, Sutton RM, Agostini M, et al. Intentions to Be Vaccinated against COVID-19: The Role of Prosociality and Conspiracy Beliefs across 20 Countries. Health Commun (2022) 1–10. 10.1080/10410236.2021.2018179 PubMed DOI

Romer D, Jamieson K. Conspiracy Theories as Barriers to Controlling the Spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. Soc Sci Med (2020) 263:113356. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113356 PubMed DOI PMC

Earnshaw VA, Eaton LA, Kalichman SC, Brousseau NM, Hill EC, Fox AB. COVID-19 Conspiracy Beliefs, Health Behaviors, and Policy Support. Translational Behav Med (2020) 10:850–6. 10.1093/tbm/ibaa090 PubMed DOI PMC

Kourlaba G, Kourkouni E, Maistreli S, Tsopela C-G, Molocha N-M, Triantafyllou C, et al. Willingness of Greek General Population to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine. Glob Health Res Pol (2021) 6:3. 10.1186/s41256-021-00188-1 PubMed DOI PMC

Our Word in Data. Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) – the Data (2022). Available online: https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus (Accessed on May 10th, 2022).

Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic. Aktualne O Koronaviru—COVID-19, April 2021 (2021). Available from: https://koronavirus.mzcr.cz/ (Accessed on April 19th, 2021).

State Institute for Drug Control. COVID-19 (2021). Available online: https://www.sukl.cz/covid-19 (Accessed on March 1st, 2021).

McCrae RR, Costa PT. Validation of the Five-Factor Model of Personality across Instruments and Observers. J Personal Soc Psychol (1987) 52:81–90. 10.1037/0022-3514.52.1.81 PubMed DOI

Hřebíčková M, Jelínek M, Blatný M, Brom C, Burešová I, Graf S, et al. Big Five Inventory: Basic Psychometric Properties of the Czech Version of BFI-44 and BFI-10. Ceskoslovenska Psychol (2016) 567–83.

Norman SB, Campbell-Sills L, Hitchcock CA, Sullivan S, Rochlin A, Wilkins KC, et al. Psychometrics of a Brief Measure of Anxiety to Detect Severity and Impairment: The Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale (OASIS). J Psychiatr Res (2011) 45:262–8. 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2010.06.011 PubMed DOI PMC

Sandora J, Novak L, Brnka R, van Dijk JP, Tavel P, Malinakova K. The Abbreviated Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale (OASIS) and the Abbreviated Overall Depression Severity and Impairment Scale (ODSIS): Psychometric Properties and Evaluation of the Czech Versions. Int J Environ Res Public Health (2021) 18:10337. 10.3390/ijerph181910337 PubMed DOI PMC

Bentley KH, Gallagher MW, Carl JR, Barlow DH. Development and Validation of the Overall Depression Severity and Impairment Scale. Psychol Assess (2014) 26:815–30. 10.1037/a0036216 PubMed DOI

Nehal KR, Steendam LM, Campos Ponce M, van der Hoeven M, Smit GSA. Worldwide Vaccination Willingness for COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Vaccines (2021) 9:1071. 10.3390/vaccines9101071 PubMed DOI PMC

Di Giuseppe G, Pelullo CP, Della Polla G, Pavia M, Angelillo IF. Exploring the Willingness to Accept SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine in a University Population in Southern Italy, September to November 2020. Vaccines (2021) 9:275. 10.3390/vaccines9030275 PubMed DOI PMC

Chen M, Li Y, Chen J, Wen Z, Feng F, Zou H, et al. An Online Survey of the Attitude and Willingness of Chinese Adults to Receive COVID-19 Vaccination. Hum Vaccin Immunother (2021) 17:2279–88. 10.1080/21645515.2020.1853449 PubMed DOI PMC

Dula J, Mulhanga A, Nhanombe A, Cumbi L, Júnior A, Gwatsvaira J, et al. COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptability and its Determinants in Mozambique: An Online Survey. Vaccines (2021) 9:828. 10.3390/vaccines9080828 PubMed DOI PMC

Ali M, Hossain A. What Is the Extent of COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Bangladesh? A Cross-Sectional Rapid National Survey. BMJ Open (2021) 11:e050303. 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-050303 PubMed DOI PMC

Ali M. What Is Driving Unwillingness to Receive the COVID-19 Vaccine in Adult Bangladeshi after One Year of Vaccine Rollout? Analysis of Observational Data. IJID Regions (2022) 3:177–82. 10.1016/j.ijregi.2022.03.022 PubMed DOI PMC

Gao Y, Ding M, Dong X, Zhang J, Kursat Azkur A, Azkur D, et al. Risk Factors for Severe and Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients: A Review. Allergy (2021) 76:428–55. 10.1111/all.14657 PubMed DOI

Vatican News. Pope Francis Urges People to Get Vaccinated against Covid-19 (2022). Available online: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2021-08/pope-francis-appeal-covid-19-vaccines-act-of-love.html (accessed on March 17, 2022).

Alfageeh EI, Alshareef N, Angawi K, Alhazmi F, Chirwa GC. Acceptability of a COVID-19 Vaccine Among the Saudi Population. Vaccines (2021) 9:226. 10.3390/vaccines9030226 PubMed DOI PMC

Goldfinch S, Taplin R, Gauld R. Trust in Government Increased during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Australia and New Zealand. Aust J Public Adm (2021) 80:3–11. 10.1111/1467-8500.12459 DOI

General Government OECD Data. Trust in Government (2022). Available online: http://data.oecd.org/gga/trust-in-government.htm (accessed on February 19, 2022).

Lazarus JV, Ratzan SC, Palayew A, Gostin LO, Larson HJ, Rabin K, et al. A Global Survey of Potential Acceptance of a COVID-19 Vaccine. Nat Med (2020) 27:225–8. 10.1038/s41591-020-1124-9 PubMed DOI PMC

Kruger J, Dunning D. Unskilled and Unaware of it: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments. J Personal Soc Psychol (1999) 77:1121–34. 10.1037/0022-3514.77.6.1121 PubMed DOI

Bălan A, Bejan I, Bonciu S, Eni CE, Ruță S. Romanian Medical Students’ Attitude towards and Perceived Knowledge on COVID-19 Vaccination. Vaccines (2021) 9:854. 10.3390/vaccines9080854 PubMed DOI PMC

Miraglia del Giudice G, Napoli A, Corea F, Folcarelli L, Angelillo IF. Evaluating COVID-19 Vaccine Willingness and Hesitancy Among Parents of Children Aged 5–11 Years with Chronic Conditions in Italy. Vaccines (2022) 10:396. 10.3390/vaccines10030396 PubMed DOI PMC

Wang J, Lu X, Lai X, Lyu Y, Zhang H, Fenghuang Y, et al. The Changing Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccination in Different Epidemic Phases in China: A Longitudinal Study. Vaccines (2021) 9:191. 10.3390/vaccines9030191 PubMed DOI PMC

Reno C, Maietti E, Di Valerio Z, Montalti M, Fantini MP, Gori D. Vaccine Hesitancy towards COVID-19 Vaccination: Investigating the Role of Information Sources through a Mediation Analysis. Infect Dis Rep (2021) 13:712–23. 10.3390/idr13030066 PubMed DOI PMC

Broniatowski DA, Jamison AM, Qi S, AlKulaib L, Chen T, Benton A, et al. Weaponized Health Communication: Twitter Bots and Russian Trolls Amplify the Vaccine Debate. Am J Public Health (2018) 108:1378–84. 10.2105/AJPH.2018.304567 PubMed DOI PMC

Buchanan R, Beckett RD. Assessment of Vaccination-Related Information for Consumers Available on Facebook. Health Info Libr J (2014) 31:227–34. 10.1111/hir.12073 PubMed DOI

Bora K, Das D, Barman B, Borah P. Are Internet Videos Useful Sources of Information during Global Public Health Emergencies? A Case Study of YouTube Videos during the 2015-16 Zika Virus Pandemic. Pathog Glob Health (2018) 112:320–8. 10.1080/20477724.2018.1507784 PubMed DOI PMC

Howard MC. The Good, the Bad, and the Neutral: Vaccine Hesitancy Mediates the Relations of Psychological Capital, the Dark Triad, and the Big Five with Vaccination Willingness and Behaviors. Personal Individual Differences (2022) 190:111523. 10.1016/j.paid.2022.111523 PubMed DOI PMC

Choi Y, Lee D. Psychological Capital, Big Five Traits, and Employee Outcomes. J Managerial Psychol (2014) 29:122–40. 10.1108/JMP-06-2012-0193 DOI

Bowden-Green T, Hinds J, Joinson A. How Is Extraversion Related to Social Media Use? A Literature Review. Personal Individual Differences (2020) 164:110040. 10.1016/j.paid.2020.110040 DOI

Johnson MO. Personality Correlates of HIV Vaccine Trial Participation. Pers Individ Differ (2000) 29:459–67. 10.1016/S0191-8869(99)00206-8 DOI

Urrunaga-Pastor D, Bendezu-Quispe G, Herrera-Añazco P, Uyen-Cateriano A, Toro-Huamanchumo CJ, Rodriguez-Morales AJ, et al. Cross-Sectional Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccine Intention, Perceptions and Hesitancy across Latin America and the Caribbean. Trav Med Infect Dis (2021) 41:102059. 10.1016/j.tmaid.2021.102059 PubMed DOI PMC

Bendau A, Plag J, Petzold MB, Ströhle A. COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and Related Fears and Anxiety. Int Immunopharmacol (2021) 97:107724. 10.1016/j.intimp.2021.107724 PubMed DOI PMC

Trust in official information as a key predictor of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance: evidence from a Czech longitudinal survey study