Investigation of factors affecting COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among communities of universities in the United Arab Emirates

Figures & data

Figure 1. Partial least squares path modeling with latent variables.

Table 1. Sample characteristics and effect of demographic factors.

Demographic factors (Independent variables)	Dependent variable: Vaccine Acceptance
	No. of respondents	Percentage	Mean	F-Value	p-Value
Language of the respondents
English	1350	81.67
Arabic	303	18.33
Category of university communities
Student	1072	64.85	53.26	1.63	0.20
Staff	78	4.72	55.81
Parent	503	30.43	53.87
Gender
Male	330	19.96	54.11	0.74	0.39
Female	1323	80.04	53.43
Age
18 to 25 Years	1126	68.12	53.37	0.71	0.59
26 to 35 Years	242	14.64	53.29
36 to 45 Years	172	10.41	55.03
46 to 55 Years	79	4.78	54.20
56 Years or More	34	2.06	53.03
Education
None	40	2.42	48.70	2.226	0.06
High school	659	39.87	54.24
Diploma	196	11.86	54.05
Undergraduate	599	36.24	53.02
Postgraduate	159	9.62	53.43
Nationality
UAE	1378	83.36	53.74	0.961	0.41
Other GCC	61	3.69	52.79
Arab	93	5.63	51.49
Others	121	7.32	53.52

Table 2. Analysis of behavioral factors - analysis of variance (ANOVA).

COVID 19 Pandemic-induced behaviour factors (independent variables)	Dependent variable: Vaccine acceptance
	No. of respondents	Mean	F-Value	p-Value
Mode of classes for students
Face-to-face classes	43	50.33	0.78	0.51
Online classes	844	53.24
Blend of face-to-face and online classes	237	53.65
No classes	23	53.22
Mode of work for employed
Go to the office physically	185	55.41	0.76	0.47
Work from home	297	54.00
Combination of both the above	218	54.85
International travel for next year?
Yes	556	52.07	11.30	0.00
No	1,097	54.32
Travel in and out of Abu Dhabi emirate?
Yes	561	52.58	4.95	0.03
No	1,092	54.07
Flu vaccine frequency in the past?
Twice every year	91	50.25	13.70	0.00
Once every year	343	57.04
I almost take the flu vaccines every 2 years	120	51.89
I took the flu vaccine only once previously	470	54.82
Never	629	51.53
Vaccination before international travel?
Yes, every time	137	53.78	1.66	0.16
Almost every time	115	53.29
Only when I travel to Mecca or some countries in South Asia	303	54.70
Once or twice only	179	54.85
Never	915	52.91
Co-morbidity diseases for Covid-19?
Yes	267	51.21	10.65	0.00
No	1,386	54.02
Vaccinated for Covid-19?
Yes	1,064	57.09	258.90	0.00
No	589	47.19

Table 3. Outer loadings and cross-loadings.

Indicators/Constructs	BeAtt	SaCn	TrHP	VA
The benefit of the COVID-19 vaccine (BeAtt)
BEA1. Good hygiene will make COVID-19 disappear from society–the vaccine is not necessary (R)	.78	−.45	−.03	0.27
BEA2. Good hand hygiene and other preventive efforts are enough for avoiding the COVID-19 even without vaccination (R)	.76	−.45	−.05	0.26
BEA3. It is not worth getting the COVID-19 vaccine, as the COVID-19 symptoms are not serious (R)	.85	−.50	0.06	0.38
BEA4. I do not need a vaccine for COVID-19 as it’s a temporary disease (R)	.86	−.60	0.10	0.46
Safety concern of COVID-19 vaccine (SaCn)
SC1. I believe there has not been enough research on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines	−.43	.72	0.05	−.24
SC2. I believe that my immune system could be weakened by COVID-19 vaccines	−.59	.77	0.01	−.33
SC3. I am concerned that the ingredients in COVID-19 vaccines are unsafe	−.40	.77	0.03	−.30
SC4. I am concerned that COVID-19 vaccines have serious side effects	−.43	.78	0.04	−.24
SC5. As COVID-19 vaccines are new, I am not sure about taking it	−.54	.83	−.03	−.39
Trust in healthcare professionals (TrHP)
Tr 1. When healthcare professionals make medical decisions, they have the patients’ best interest in mind	0.11	0.01	.84	0.38
Tr 2. Parents/patients should leave the decisions that concern their or their children’s health in the healthcare professionals’ hands	−.09	0.09	.75	0.25
Tr 3. Doctors need to be authoritative toward their patients for optimum care	0.05	−.03	.80	0.35
COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance (VA)
VA1. COVID-19 vaccines are important for my health	0.37	−.35	0.32	.83
VA2. COVID-19 vaccines are effective	0.29	−.30	0.33	.77
VA3. All COVID-19 vaccines offered by the government program in UAE are beneficial.	0.31	−.28	0.35	.77
VA4. Getting the vaccine is a good way to protect myself from COVID-19.	0.41	−.33	0.31	.86
VA5. Generally, I do what my doctor or healthcare provider recommends about COVID-19 vaccines.	0.32	−.26	0.36	.77
VA6. The information I receive about COVID-19 vaccines from the vaccine program is reliable and trustworthy.	0.32	−.25	0.38	.71
VA7. Having myself vaccinated for COVID-19 is important for the health of others in my community	0.40	−.29	0.35	.81
VA8. Everyone must get vaccinated for COVID-19 once the vaccine is available	0.44	−.37	0.32	.83
VA9. COVID-19 vaccination should be compulsory for everyone	0.20	−.31	0.27	.67
VA10. Those who are not COVID-19 vaccinated are risking their health or the health of their family	0.38	−.35	0.28	.78
VA11. I am motivated to get the COVID-19 vaccine when I see some influential leaders/celebrities getting vaccinated	0.16	−.25	0.24	.59

Table 4. Construct reliability and validity.

Constructs	Cronbach’s Alpha	Composite Reliability	AVE	Inter-construct correlations
				BeAtt	SaCn	TrHP	VA
Benefit of COVID-19 vaccine (BeAtt)	0.84	0.89	0.66	.81
Safety concern of COVID-19 vaccine (SaCn)	0.83	0.88	0.60	−.62	.77
Trust in healthcare professionals (TrHP)	0.71	0.84	0.63	0.05	0.02	.80
COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance (VA)	0.93	0.94	0.59	0.44	−.40	0.42	.77

AVE-Average variance extracted. Values in the diagonal are the square root of respective construct’s AVEs and they are in a bold highlight and show that these values are more than respective construct’s inter-correlations with other constructs.

Table 5. Results of PLS structural models.

Independent variables	Dependent variable: Vaccine Acceptance
	Main effects model		Moderation effects model
	Std. path co-efficients	t-value	Std. path co-efficients	t-value
Benefit of COVID-19 vaccine (BeAtt)	0.27	11.05*	0.28	10.95*
Safety concern of COVID-19 vaccine (SaCn)	−.23	8.35*	−.22	7.72*
Trust in healthcare professionals (TrHP)	0.41	14.23*	0.38	14.40*
TrHP X BeAtt			−.06	1.87
TrHP X SaCn			−.14	4.46*
R^2	0.39		0.40
Q^Citation2	0.222		0.232

* p value <.01 level; ** p value <.05 level.

Pormohammad A, Zarei M, Ghorbani S, Mohammadi M, Razizadeh MH, Turner DL, Turner RJ. Efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Vaccines. 2021;9(467):1–21. doi:10.3390/vaccines9050467.

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