Willing or hesitant? A socioeconomic study on the potential acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine in Japan

Kadoya, Yoshihiko, Watanapongvanich, Somtip, Yuktadatta, Pattaphol, Putthinun, Pongpat, Lartey, Stella T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9519-7886 and Khan, Mostafa Saidur Rahim (2021) Willing or hesitant? A socioeconomic study on the potential acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine in Japan. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18 (9). ISSN 1661-7827

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Abstract

The worldwide COVID-19 vaccination program is already underway, raising hopes and aspirations to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic that halted economic and social activities. However, the issue of vaccine effectiveness and its side-effects is influencing the potential acceptance of vaccines. In this uncertain situation, we used data from a nationwide survey in Japan during February 2021, following the Japanese government’s initial phase of COVID-19 vaccination. Our results show that 47% of the respondents are willing to take a vaccine once it is available, while 22% are not willing and another 31% remain indecisive. Our ordered probit regression results show that demographic, socioeconomic, and behavioral variables such as gender, age, subjective health status, children, household income, household assets, financial literacy, future anxiety, and myopic view of the future are associated with willingness to take a COVID-19 vaccine. Our findings suggest that Japan’s government should not adopt a one-size-fits-all policy to promote the vaccination program, but rather target people with specific socioeconomic backgrounds who are less willing and more hesitant to take a vaccine.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Funding: This work is financially supported by the JSPS KAKENHI (grant number 19K13684) and (grant number 19K13739) and RISTEX, JST.
Uncontrolled Keywords: covid-19 pandemic,japan,socioeconomic factors,vaccine,pollution,public health, environmental and occupational health,health, toxicology and mutagenesis,sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2310
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Norwich Epidemiology Centre
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Norwich Epidemiology Centre
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 18 Aug 2022 13:30
Last Modified: 21 Apr 2023 01:34
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/87456
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18094864

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