Fear of COVID-19 disease and vaccination as predictors of vaccination status

Abstract Vaccination rates are still insufficient to prevent the spread of COVID-19, so immunity must be increased among the population in order to reduce the virus’ spread and the associated medical and psychosocial effects. Although previous work has identified various factors associated with a low willingness to get vaccinated, the role of emotions such as fear of vaccination (FVAC) or fear of COVID-19 (FCOV), vaccination as a subjective norm (SN), psychological factors like general control beliefs (CB) or psychological resilience, and their interaction have been investigated less intensively. We used data from three cross-sectional waves of the German Panel COSMO (November 2021, N = 1010; February 2022, N = 1026; March 2022, N = 1031) and multiple logistic regression analyses to test whether vaccination rates are moderated by those factors. After controlling for covariates (age, sex, confidence in own intuition, optimism, well-being), we found that CB was no significant predictor of vaccination status. Higher FCOV and higher ratings in SN, however, were associated with an increased likelihood of being vaccinated. In contrast, higher FVAC was associated with a decreased likelihood of being vaccinated. Psychological resilience did not consistently moderate the associations between fear and vaccination status.