1. Resistance to COVID-19 vaccination has increased in Ireland and the United Kingdom during the pandemic.
- Author
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Hyland, P., Vallières, F., Shevlin, M., Bentall, R.P., McKay, R., Hartman, T.K., McBride, O., and Murphy, J.
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VACCINATION , *OCCUPATIONAL roles , *COVID-19 , *COVID-19 vaccines , *ATTITUDE (Psychology) , *CROSS-sectional method , *QUANTITATIVE research , *PUBLIC health , *DESCRIPTIVE statistics , *COVID-19 pandemic , *LONGITUDINAL method - Abstract
Hesitance and resistance to COVID-19 vaccination poses a serious challenge to achieving adequate vaccine uptake in the general population. Cross-sectional data from the early months of the pandemic indicates that approximately one-third of adults in multiple nations are hesitant or resistant to a vaccine for COVID-19. Using longitudinal data, we tracked changes in attitudes to COVID-19 vaccination during the pandemic. This is a quantitative, longitudinal design. Nationally representative samples of the adult general population of the Republic of Ireland (N = 1041) and the United Kingdom (N = 2025) were assessed for their attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination at three points from March to August 2020. Statistically significant increases in resistance to COVID-19 vaccination were observed in Irish (from 9.5% to 18.1%) and British (from 6.2% to 10%) adults. Resistance to vaccination has significantly increased in two European nations as the pandemic has progressed. Growing resistance to COVID-19 vaccination will pose a challenge to public health officials responsible for ensuring sufficient vaccine coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
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