The study’s aim was to survey UK adults in order to estimate how many people would agree to be vaccinated against COVID-19, to discover whether there were any segments of the population who were particularly hesitant, and, most importantly, to determine why people might refuse to take an approved vaccine.
| URL | https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(21)00096-7/fulltext |
| Date of publication | May 12, 2021, Lancet Public Health |
| Category | Vaccine hesitancy |
| Study Design | Single blind, parallel- group RCT |
| Country of Study | UK |
| Level of Evidence | Level I: randomised controlled trial |
| Aim/ Question studied | The study’s aim was to survey UK adults in order to estimate how many people would agree to be vaccinated against COVID-19, to discover whether there were any segments of the population who were particularly hesitant, and, most importantly, to determine why people might refuse to take an approved vaccine. |
| Study done / What did they do? | In this study, which is a single-blind, parallel-group, randomised controlled trial 15 000 UK adults (18 years old) were quota sampled to be nationally representative for age, gender, region, education level, and ethnicity.
The quotas were calculated using population estimates from the UK Office for National Statistics. The Oxford Coronavirus Explanations, Attitudes, and Narratives Survey II included 5114 adults who were representative of the UK population in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, income, and region (OCEANS-II). They discovered that 72% of the population was willing to be vaccinated, 17% were unsure, and 12% were extremely hesitant |
| Results |
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| Conclusion | For the 10% of the population who are extremely hesitant about COVID-19 vaccines, information on personal benefits reduces hesitancy more than information on collective benefits. |
| Summary | In this study, the participants were assigned at random to one of ten information conditions based on their level of vaccine acceptance (willing, doubtful, or strongly hesitant). The safety and effectiveness statement was taken from the UK National Health Service website as the control information condition; the remaining conditions addressed collective benefit, personal benefit, the seriousness of the pandemic, and safety concerns.
Participants completed the Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Scale (outcome measure; score range 7–35) and the Oxford Vaccine Confidence and Complacency Scale after receiving vaccination information online (mediation measure). The survey of UK adults was conducted to determine how many people would agree to be vaccinated against COVID-19, whether there were any segments of the population who were particularly hesitant, and, most importantly, to determine why people might refuse to take an approved vaccine. The study’s goal was to inform the provision of accurate vaccination information, which would increase acceptance rates. |