COVID-19 vaccination intention in the UK: results from the COVID-19 vaccination acceptability study (CoVAccS), a nationally representative cross-sectional survey

Figures & data

Table 1. Participant characteristics

Personal and clinical characteristics	Level	n (%)
Sex	Male	729 (48.6)
	Female	765 (51.0)
	Other	6 (0.4)
Ethnicity	White	1267 (84.5)
	Black and minority ethnic	224 (14.9)
	Prefer not to say	9 (0.6)
Religion	No religion	780 (52.0)
	Christian	592 (39.5)
	Other religion	116 (7.7)
	Prefer not to say	12 (0.8)
Highest qualification	Degree equivalent or higher^+	789 (52.6)
	Other or no qualifications	704 (46.9)
	Prefer not to say	7 (0.5)
Employment status	Full-time	678 (45.2)
	Part-time	257 (17.1)
	Not working/other	556 (37.1)
	Don’t know	1 (0.1)
	Prefer not to say	8 (0.5)
Key worker	Yes	549 (36.6)
	No	951 (63.4)
Total household income*	Under £10,000	103 (6.9)
	£10,000–£19,999	207 (13.8)
	£20,000–£29,999	309 (20.6)
	£30,000–£39,999†	258 (17.2)
	£40,000–£49,999	191 (12.7)
	£50,000–£74,999	210 (14.0)
	£75,000 or over	136 (9.1)
	Don’t know	20 (1.3)
	Prefer not to say	66 (4.4)
Region where respondent lives*	East Midlands	111 (7.4)
	East of England	109 (7.3)
	London	224 (14.9)
	North East	65 (4.3)
	North West	143 (9.5)
	Northern Ireland	30 (2.0)
	Scotland	130 (8.7)
	South East	215 (14.3)
	South West	148 (9.9)
	Wales	66 (4.4)
	West Midlands	127 (8.5)
	Yorkshire and the Humber	131 (8.7)
	Prefer not to say	1 (1)
Number of people in household*	1	235 (15.7)
	2†	572 (38.1)
	3–4	553 (36.9)
	5–6	126 (8.4)
	7 or more	11 (7.0)
	Prefer not to say	3 (0.2)
Extremely clinically vulnerable – respondent	Yes	445 (29.7)
	No	1055 (70.3)
Extremely clinically vulnerable – other(s) in household	Yes	455 (36.0)
	No	810 (64.0)
	Not applicable	235
Influenza vaccination last winter	Yes	485 (32.3)
	No	1001 (66.7)
	Don’t know	14 (0.9)

* Not included in regression model

† Median category

+ Undergraduate (e.g. BA, BSc) or postgraduate (e.g. MA, MSc, PhD) degree or other technical, professional or higher qualification.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics for continuous items measuring beliefs and attitudes about COVID-19 and a COVID-19 vaccination and vaccination intention. Data are mean (standard deviation) on a 0–10 numerical rating scale (0 = strongly disagree, 10 = strongly agree)

	Item	Mean (SD)
Attitudes and beliefs about COVID-19	I am worried about catching coronavirus	6.24 (2.71)
	I believe that coronavirus would be a mild illness for me	4.35 (2.63)
	Too much fuss is being made about the risk of coronavirus*	2.10 (2.54)
	We are all responsible for reducing the spread of coronavirus*	9.23 (1.40)
	I believe I am immune to coronavirus*	1.16 (1.96)
	The coronavirus pandemic has had a big impact on my life	6.81 (2.43)
	I trust the NHS to manage the coronavirus pandemic in the UK	7.28 (2.16)
	I trust the Government to manage the coronavirus pandemic in the UK	3.96 (2.91)
Attitudes and beliefs about a COVID-19 vaccination	A coronavirus vaccination should be mandatory for everyone who is able to have it	6.51 (3.41)
	Without a coronavirus vaccination, I am likely to catch coronavirus	5.57 (2.39)
	If I get a coronavirus vaccination, I will be protected against coronavirus	6.83 (2.35)
	If I don’t get a coronavirus vaccination and end up getting coronavirus, I would regret not getting the vaccination*	7.83 (2.94)
	It would be very easy for me to have a coronavirus vaccination*	7.24 (2.63)
	A coronavirus vaccination could give me coronavirus	2.84 (2.67)
	I would be worried about experiencing side effects from a coronavirus vaccination	5.63 (3.02)
	I might regret getting a coronavirus vaccination if I later experienced side effects from the vaccination	5.55 (2.92)
	A coronavirus vaccination will be too new for me to be confident about getting vaccinated	4.83 (3.17)
	Most people will get a coronavirus vaccination	6.73 (1.98)
	Other people like me will get a coronavirus vaccination*	7.43 (2.21)
	In general, vaccination is a good thing*	8.69 (2.05)
	I am afraid of needles*	2.75 (3.35)
	If I were vaccinated, I think I would not need to follow social distancing and other restrictions for coronavirus	3.93 (2.91)
	I know enough about the coronavirus illness to make an informed decision about whether or not to get vaccinated	6.74 (2.61)
	I know enough about the coronavirus vaccine to make an informed decision about whether or not to get vaccinated	4.00 (2.98)
	Only people who are at risk of serious illness from coronavirus need to be vaccinated	3.02 (3.02)
	My family would approve of my having a coronavirus vaccination*	8.01 (2.38)
	My friends would approve of my having a coronavirus vaccination*	7.80 (2.28)
	If a coronavirus vaccination were recommended by the Government, I would get vaccinated	6.85 (2.92)
	If a coronavirus vaccination were recommended by a health care professional, I would get vaccinated*	7.90 (2.62)
	Widespread coronavirus vaccination is just a way to make money for vaccine manufacturers*	2.73 (2.81)
	A coronavirus vaccine will allow us to get back to ‘normal’	6.66 (2.52)
	There would be no point in having the coronavirus vaccination unless I could go back to my normal life	3.86 (3.04)
Vaccination intentions	This winter, how likely is it you will have the seasonal influenza vaccination? (0 = very unlikely, 10 = very likely)	5.11 (4.02)
	When a coronavirus vaccination becomes available to you, how likely is it you will have one? (0 = very unlikely, 10 = very likely)*	7.55 (2.92)

* Skewed variables; mean values should be interpreted cautiously.

Table 3. Descriptive statistics for categorical and ordinal items measuring beliefs and attitudes about COVID-19 and a COVID-19 vaccination

Item	Level	n (%)
To what extent do you think coronavirus poses a risk to people in the UK?	No risk at all	5 (0.3)
	Minor risk	80 (5.3)
	Moderate risk	313 (20.9)
	Significant risk	675 (45.0)
	Major risk	426 (28.4)
	Don’t know	1 (0.1)
To what extent do you think coronavirus poses a risk to you personally?	No risk at all	34 (2.3)
	Minor risk	365 (24.3)
	Moderate risk	563 (37.5)
	Significant risk	381 (25.4)
	Major risk	153 (10.2)
	Don’t know	4 (0.3)
Do you believe you have had, or currently have, coronavirus?	Definitely not	555 (37.0)
	Probably not	588 (39.2)
	Probably	151 (10.1)
	Definitely	28 (1.9)
	Don’t know	178 (11.9)
Do you personally know anyone (excluding yourself) who has had coronavirus?	Yes	677 (45.2)
	Don’t know	822 (54.8)
	Prefer not to say	1 (0.1)
As far as you know, would your employer want you to have the coronavirus vaccination?	Yes	597 (61.2)
	No	18 (1.8)
	Don’t know	361 (37.0)
	Not applicable	524
As far as you know, is there currently a widely available vaccination to protect against coronavirus?	Yes	53 (3.5)
	No	1360 (90.7)
	Don’t know	82 (5.5)
	Prefer not to say	5 (0.3)

Figure 1. Perceived likelihood of having a vaccination (0 = “extremely unlikely” to 10 = “extremely likely”). The figure also shows cutpoints that we used to categorize respondents in terms of their vaccination intention (into three categories of very unlikely, uncertain, and very likely to be vaccinated)

Table 4. Results of the full linear regression model analyzing associations with vaccination intention (adjusted R² =.763). Parameter estimates relate to the full model containing all predictors. The unstandardized regression coefficients represent the change in likelihood of vaccination for a one-unit increase in the predictor variable (or, for dummy variables, a shift from the reference category to the category concerned). The figures under ‘% variance explained’ represent the percentage of variance in the outcome variable uniquely explained by the item (or set of dummy variables) concerned. The model was based on 1437 cases with complete data

Predictor variable	Level	Standardized coefficient	Unstandardized coefficient		99% confidence interval	p value	% variance explained
Block 1 – personal and clinical characteristics
Age	Years	.043	.008		.000,.015	.006*	0.12
Sex (reference: female)	Male	–.012	–.072		–.277,.133	.366	0.01
Ethnicity (reference: black and minority ethnic)	White	–.008	–.066		–.394,.261	.602	0.01
Religion (reference: none)						.580	0.02
	Christian	–.006	–.033		–.249,.182
	Other	–.016	–.172		–.604,.259
Qualifications (reference: other)	Degree equivalent or higher	–.004	–.024		–.227,.179	.763	<0.01
Employment status (reference: not working/other)						.333	0.04
	Part-time	.022	.168		–.127,.463
	Full-time	.008	.047		–.199,.293
Key worker (reference: not key worker)	Key worker	.015	.093		–.132,.317	.286	0.02
Extremely clinically vulnerable – self (reference: no)	Yes	–.013	–.079		–.316,.157	.388	0.01
Extremely clinically vulnerable – household member (reference: no)	Yes	.017	.109		–.107,.324	.195	0.035
Block 2 – previous influenza vaccination
Did you have a vaccination for influenza last winter? (reference: no)	Yes	.051	.314		.079,.548	.001*	0.19
Block 3 – general vaccination beliefs and attitudes
Vaccination is generally good (0–10)	0–10 scale	.014	.020		–.055,.096	.483	0.01
I am afraid of needles (0–10)	0–10 scale	–.011	–.010		–.040,.020	.399	0.01
Block 4 – beliefs and attitudes about COVID-19
Perceived risk of COVID-19 to people in the UK (reference: major)						.001*	0.26
	No or minor risk	–.056	–.701	–1.270, –.132
	Moderate risk	–.049	–.350	–.700,.000
	Significant risk	–.006	–.033	–.297,.232
Perceived risk of COVID-19 to oneself (reference: major)						.501	0.04
	No or minor risk	.022	.144		–.353,.640
	Moderate risk	.029	.173		–.239,.585
	Significant risk	.033	.218		–.162,.597
Do you have/have you had COVID-19? (reference: probably/definitely)						.627	0.03
	Probably not	.009	.056		–.271,.382
	Definitely not	.015	.089		–.244,.423
	Don’t know	.022	.192		–.209,.593
Do you know anybody who has had COVID-19? (reference: no)	Yes	.004	.024		–.178,.225	.762	<0.01
Perceived threat and impact of COVID-19		–.001	–.003		–.155,.149	.960	<0.01
Trust in coronavirus management		–.002	–.005		–.115,.106	.913	<0.01
Block 5 – beliefs and attitudes about a COVID-19 vaccination
General COVID-19 vaccination beliefs and attitudes		.733	2.144	1.984, 2.304		<.001*	19.71
COVID-19 vaccination adverse effects		–.355	–1.030	–1.150, –.911		<.001*	8.18
Perceived knowledge sufficiency		.081	.234	.133,.334		<.001*	0.59
Return to ‘normal’ life		–.030	–.088	–.193,.017		.031	0.08
Only people who are at risk of serious illness from coronavirus need to be vaccinated	0–10 scale	–.040	–.038	–.075, –.001		.008*	0.12
Widespread coronavirus vaccination is just a way to make money for vaccine manufacturers	0–10 scale	.024	.025	–.022,.072		.171	0.03
As far as you know, is there currently a widely-available vaccination to protect against coronavirus? (reference: no)						.672	0.01
	Yes	.011	.179	–.347,.705
	Don’t know	.003	.038	–.416,.492

* p ≤.01