Socio-demographic, psychological, and experiential predictors of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in South Korea, October-December 2020

Figures & data

Table 1. Socio-demographic characteristics of participants according to vaccination hesitancy

	Total	Vaccine acceptance	Vaccine hesitancy	p-Value
	N (%)	N (%)	N (%)
Total	13021 (100)	7832 (60.2)	5189 (39.8)
Gender				0.640
Female	6535 (50.2)	3917 (59.9)	2618 (40.1)
Male	6486 (49.8)	3915 (60.4)	2570 (39.6)
Age (years)				0.220
Young adults (20 ~ 39)	4365 (33.5)	2600 (59.6)	1765 (40.4)
Middle-aged (40 ~ 59)	5151 (39.6)	3079 (59.8)	2072 (40.2)
Elderly (60+)	3505 (26.9)	2153 (61.4)	1351 (38.6)
Having a spouse				0.221
No	3713 (28.5)	2199 (59.2)	1515 (40.8)
Yes	9307 (71.5)	5633 (60.5)	3674 (39.5)
Family income per month				<0.001
<3 M KRW (≒USD 2,700)	3108 (23.9)	1762 (56.7)	1346 (43.3)
≥3 M KRW & <5 M KRW	4941 (38.0)	2928 (59.3)	2012 (40.7)
≥5 M KRW (≒USD 4,500)	4972 (38.2)	3142 (63.2)	1830 (36.8)
Education				0.233
< high school	1244 (9.6)	729 (58.6)	515 (41.4)
High school graduate	4217 (32.5)	2503 (59.4)	1714 (40.6)
≥College graduate	7499 (57.9)	4545 (60.6)	2954 (39.4)
Job status				0.006
No job	4262 (32.7)	2488 (58.4)	1774 (41.6)
Have a job	8759 (67.3)	5344 (61.0)	3415 (39.0)
Health status				0.031
Good	8203 (94.6)	7437 (60.4)	4881 (39.6)
Bad	703 (5.4)	395 (56.2)	308 (43.8)
Religion				<0.001
No religion	9313 (71.5)	5303 (56.9)	4011 (43.1)
Have a religion	3707 (28.5)	2529 (68.2)	1178 (31.8)
	Mean (SD)	Mean (SD)	Mean (SD)
Political conservatism (range: 1 ~ 10)	5.62 (1.82)	5.51 (1.86)	5.78 (1.73)	<0.001

N: number; SD: standard deviation. The statistics were calculated using cross-sectional weights.

Table 2. The reasons for vaccine hesitancy (n = 5,532)

	N (%)
Confidence	4044 (77.9)
I worried about side effects after vaccination.	2402 (46.3)
I think the vaccine for COVID-19 is not safe.	1641 (31.6)
Complacency	971 (18.7)
If I were infected with COVID-19, it would be fine with getting treatment.	466 (9.0)
Disease and life or deaths depend on fate.	246 (4.7)
I will not be infected with COVID-19.	176 (3.4)
I believe in natural healing and folk remedies.	83 (1.6)
Others	174 (3.4)
I am afraid of getting an injection.	88 (1.7)
I am against vaccination itself.	69 (1.3)
I cannot get a vaccine for religious reasons.	13 (0.3)
Others	5 (0.1)

Table 3. Psychological and experiential characteristics of participants according to vaccination hesitancy

		Total	Vaccine acceptance		Vaccine hesitancy	p-Value
		N (%)	N (%)		N (%)
Psychological characteristics
Fears of COVID-19 infection						<0.001
Fear		8620 (66.2)	5702 (66.2)		2918 (33.9)
Neutral		3532 (27.1)	1672 (47.4)		1859 (52.7)
Not fear		869 (6.7)	457 (52.6)		411 (47.4)
Being aware of the preventive guideline of COVID-19						<0.001
Unrecognized		883 (6.8)	474 (53.7)		408 (46.3)
Neutral		2781 (21.4)	1590 (57.2)		1191 (42.8)
Recognized		9357 (71.9)	5768 (61.6)		3589 (38.4)
Trust on preventive measures of the government						<0.001
Distrust		1045 (8.0)	619 (59.2)		427 (40.8)
Neutral		3602 (27.7)	2055 (57.1)		1546 (42.9)
Trust		8374 (64.3)	5158 (61.6)		3216 (38.4)
		N (%)	N (%)		N (%)
Experiential characteristics
COVID-19 infection of oneself or acquaintances						0.002
No		12415 (95.4)	7428 (59.8)		4987 (40.2)
Yes		606 (4.7)	404 (66.7)		202 (33.3)
Needs for medical care besides COVID-19						<0.001
No need		11242 (86.3)	6642 (59.1)		4600 (40.9)
Met		1220 (9.4)	806 (66.1)		414 (33.9)
Unmet		559 (4.3)	385 (68.8)		174 (31.2)
Changes of job status						0.013
No change		12297 (94.4)	7433 (60.5)		4864 (39.6)
Being unstable job status		526 (4.0)	282 (53.6)		244 (46.4)
Unemployed or closing business		198 (1.5)	117 (59.1)		81 (40.9)
Decrease of monthly family income						<0.001
No change		9541 (73.3)	5784 (60.6)		3757 (39.4)
<0.5 M KRW (≒USD 450)		831 (6.4)	422 (50.8)		409 (49.3)
≥0.5 M KRW & <1 M KRW		1313 (10.1)	795 (60.6)		518 (39.4)
≥1 M KRW (≒USD 900)		1336 (10.3)	831 (62.2)		505 (37.8)
Change of family relationship						0.466
Better		1916 (14.7)	1158 (60.4)		759 (39.6)
No change		10258 (78.8)	6183 (60.3)		4075 (39.7)
Worsen		846 (6.5)	492 (58.1)		355 (41.9)
Changes in health status						<0.001
Better		2144 (16.5)	1344 (62.7)		801 (37.3)
No change		10371 (79.7)	6223 (60)		4148 (40)
Worsen		505 (3.9)	265 (52.4)		241 (47.6)

N: number; SD: standard deviation. The statistics were calculated using cross-sectional weights.

Table 4. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% credible intervals (CI) based on multivariate binomial logit models of hesitancy to vaccination against COVID-19

	Model 1		Model 2		Model 3
	OR (95% CI)	p-Value	OR (95% CI)	p-Value	OR (95% CI)	p-Value
Block 1: Psychological characteristics
Fear of COVID-19 infection
Fear	1		1		1
Neutral	2.04 (1.89, 2.21)	<0.001	2.03 (1.87, 2.19)	<0.001	2.08 (1.92, 2.26)	<0.001
Not fear	1.78 (1.54, 2.06)	<0.001	1.75 (1.51, 2.03)	<0.001	1.79 (1.54, 2.08)	<0.001
Being aware of the preventive rules of COVID-19
Unrecognized	1		1		1
Neutral	0.86 (0.74, 1.00)	0.056	0.86 (0.73, 1.00)	0.047	0.89 (0.76, 1.04)	0.155
Recognized	0.79 (0.68, 0.91)	0.001	0.79 (0.69, 0.92)	0.002	0.84 (0.72, 0.97)	0.020
Trust in preventive measures of the government
Distrust	1		1		1
Neutral	1.03 (0.90, 1.19)	0.675	1.04 (0.90, 1.20)	0.594	1.04 (0.90, 1.20)	0.606
Trust	0.94 (0.82, 1.07)	0.354	0.94 (0.82, 1.08)	0.386	0.98 (0.86, 1.13)	0.795
Block 2: Experiential characteristics
COVID-19 infection of oneself or acquaintances			0.78 (0.65, 0.93)	0.007	0.88 (0.73, 1.05)	0.165
Unmet needs for medical care besides COVID-19 (ref. No need)
Met			0.90 (0.79, 1.02)	0.090	0.95 (0.84, 1.09)	0.484
Unmet			0.69 (0.57, 0.83)	<0.001	0.75 (0.62, 0.91)	0.004
Changes of job (ref. No change)
Being unstable job status			1.43 (1.20, 1.72)	<0.001	1.42 (1.18, 1.70)	<0.001
Unemployed or closing business			1.27 (0.94, 1.71)	0.126	1.20 (0.88, 1.63)	0.246
Decrease of monthly family income (ref. No change)
<0.5 M KRW (≒USD 450)			1.47 (1.28, 1.69)	<0.001	1.40 (1.21, 1.61)	<0.001
≥0.5 M KRW & <1 M KRW			1.04 (0.92, 1.17)	0.574	1.05 (0.93, 1.19)	0.442
≥1 M KRW (≒USD 900)			0.95 (0.84, 1.07)	0.385	0.96 (0.85, 1.09)	0.558
Changes in family relationships (ref. Better)
No change			0.88 (0.79, 0.98)	0.016	0.88 (0.79, 0.98)	0.022
Worsen			1.03 (0.87, 1.21)	0.705	1.05 (0.88, 1.24)	0.587
Changes in health status (ref. Better)
No change			1.13 (1.02, 1.25)	0.018	1.13 (1.02, 1.25)	0.020
Worsen			1.45 (1.19, 1.76)	<0.001	1.38 (1.13, 1.68)	0.002
Block 3: Socio-demographic characteristics
Gender (ref. Male)
Female					0.96 (0.89, 1.03)	0.245
Age (ref. Young adults (20 ~ 39))					1
Middle-aged (40 ~ 59)					0.97 (0.88, 1.07)	0.540
Elderly (60+)					0.81 (0.72, 0.93)	0.002
Having a spouse (ref. No)
Yes					0.97 (0.88, 1.06)	0.486
Family income (ref. <3 M KRW (≒USD 2,700))					1
≥3 M KRW & <5 M KRW					0.90 (0.81, 0.99)	0.030
≥5 M KRW (≒USD 4,500)					0.84 (0.75, 0.93)	0.001
Education (ref. < High school)					1
High school graduate					1.05 (0.91, 1.21)	0.501
≥College graduate					1.00 (0.86, 1.17)	0.969
Job (ref. No job)
Have a job					0.95 (0.87, 1.03)	0.242
Health status (ref. Good)
Bad					1.15 (0.98, 1.35)	0.092
Religion (ref. No religion)
Have a religion					0.65 (0.60, 0.71)	<0.001
Political conservatism					1.08 (1.05, 1.10)	<0.001

OR: odds ratio; CI: confidence interval. Model 1 was adjusted for psychological characteristics. Model 2 includes experiential characteristics as covariates in Model 1. Model 3 includes socio-demographic characteristics as covariates in Model 2.