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Category: Project

Description: Vaccination is central to controlling COVID-19. Its success relies on having safe and effective vac-cines and also on high levels of uptake by the public over time. Addressing questions of popula-tion-level acceptability, stability of acceptance, and sub-population variation in acceptability are imperative. Using a prospective design, a repeated measures two-wave online survey was con-ducted to assess key sociodemographic variables and intention to accept a COVID-19 vaccine. The first survey (Time 1) was completed by 3436 people during the period of national lockdown in Scotland and the second survey (n = 2016) was completed two months later (Time 2) when re-strictions had been eased. IOn the first survey, 74% reported being willing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Logistic regression analyses showed that there were clear sociodemographic differences in intention to accept a vaccine for COVID-19 with intention being higher in participants of white ethnicity as compared with Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) groups, and in those with higher income levels and higher education levels. Intention was also higher in those who had were ”shielding” status due to underlying medical conditions. Our results suggest that future in-terventions, such as mass media and social marketing, need to be targeted at a range of sub-populations and diverse communities.