Exploring vaccine hesitancy and acceptance in the general population of Pakistan: Insights into COVID-19-related distress, risk perception, and stigma

Figures & data

Table 1. Participants’ demographic details, frequencies and percentages (N = 360).

Variables	Classification	F	%
Gender	Male	178	49.4
	Female	182	50.6
Education level	Matric	29	8.1
	Intermediate	79	21.9
	Graduation	117	32.5
	Post-graduation	135	37.5
Marital status	Married	177	49.2
	Un-Married	183	50.8
Age	Young adult (19–35)	182	50.5
	Middle Adult (36–54)	108	30.1
	Older Adult (55–above)	70	19.4
Family income	Less than 50k	144	40.0
	51000 to 1 lac	110	30.5
	1 lac to 1.5 lac	60	16.6
	1.5 lac to 2 lac	32	8.88
	More than 2 lac	14	3.88

N = Total Participants, f = frequency, % = percentage.

Table 2. Levels of depression, anxiety and stress among the Respondents’ frequencies and percentages (N = 360).

Scales	Classification	F	%
COVID-related Stress	Low	7	1.9
	Mild	3	0.8
	Average	37	10.3
	High	63	17.5
	Severe	250	69.4
Anxiety	Normal	88	24.4
	Borderline abnormal	82	22.8
	Abnormal	190	52.8
Depression	Normal	92	25.6
	Borderline abnormal	84	23.3
	Abnormal	184	51.1

N = Total Study’s Participants, f = frequency, % = percentage.

Table 3. Levels of vaccine hesitancy, vaccine acceptance, risk perception and COVID stigma discrimination among the Respondents’ frequencies and percentages (N = 360).

Variables	Category	f	%
Vaccine hesitancy	Low	119	33.1
	High	241	66.9
Vaccine acceptance	Low	150	41.7
	High	210	58.3
Risk perception	Low	172	47.8
	high	188	52.2
COVID Stigma discrimination	Low	187	51.9
	High	173	48.1

N = Total Study’s Participants, f = frequency, % = percentage.

Table 4. Relationship between COVID distress, risk perception, COVID stigma, vaccine hesitancy and vaccine acceptance.

	Variable	i	ii	iii	iv	v	vi	vii	viii	ix	x	xi	xii	xiii	xiv	xv
i	COVID stress (danger)	1	.72**	.62**	.67**	.66**	.66**	.48**	.47**	−.53**	−.20**	−.60**	−.29**	−.58**	−.59**	.51**
ii	COVID stress (socioeconomic consequences)
			1	.66**	.74**	.68**	.68**	.53**	.55**	−.51**	−.16**	−.55**	−.29**	−.59**	−.58**	.55**
iii	COVID stress (xenophobia)			1	.78**	.76**	.72**	.59**	.57**	−.50**	−.14**	−.53**	−.23**	−.64**	−.62**	.64**
iv	COVID stress (contamination)				1	.81**	.77**	.61**	.58**	−.58**	−.17**	−.61**	−.31**	−.66**	−.64**	.64**
v	COVID stress (trauma)					1	.84**	.63**	.64**	−.59**	−.20**	−.62**	−.32**	−.60**	−.70**	.70**
vi	COVID stress (compulsive checking)						1	.61**	.65**	−.55**	−.21**	−.62**	−.28**	−.61**	−.70**	.66**
vii	Anxiety (HADS)							1	.83**	−.61**	−.29**	−.55**	−.44**	−.50**	−.54**	.54**
viii	Depression (HADS)								1	−.64**	−.26**	−.59**	−.42**	−.46**	−.57**	.59**
ix	Risk Perception (response efficacy)									1	.47**	.82**	.63**	.50**	−.57**	.51**
x	Risk Perception (defensive response)										1	.54**	.83**	.072	−.09	.40**
xi	Risk Perception (self-efficacy)											1	.69**	.51**	−.62**	.73**
xii	Risk Perception (threats)												1	.18**	−.24**	.49**
xiii	COVID stigma discrimination													1	.54**	−.52**
xiv	Vaccine hesitancy														1	−.74**
xv	Vaccine acceptance															1

Table 5. Relationship between vaccine acceptance, vaccine hesitancy and sociodemographic variables.

	Variable	i	ii	iii	iv	v	vi	vii	viii	ix	x	xi	xii
i	age	1	−.30**	.05	−.05	−.70**	−.14**	−.25**	−.11*	−.15**	−.28**	−.24**	.28**
ii	gender		1	.16**	−.09	.17**	.24**	.25**	.28**	.15**	.30**	.32**	−.27**
iii	education			1	−.07	−.07	.35**	.16**	.34**	.15**	.35**	.36**	−.28**
iv	income				1	.06	−.03	−.06	−.00	−.09	−.06	−.06	.02
v	marital status					1	.00	.15**	.10	.18**	.19**	.16**	−.19**
vi	vaccine acceptance (selection schedule)						1	.47**	.53**	.34**	.60**	.78**	−.64**
vii	vaccine acceptance (perceived safety)							1	.50**	.35**	.59**	.76**	−.53**
viii	vaccine acceptance (perceived effectiveness)								1	.34**	.58**	.79**	−.49**
ix	vaccine acceptance (positive value)									1	.49**	.63**	−.47**
x	vaccine acceptance (perceived legitimation)										1	.85**	−.72**
xi	vaccine acceptance											1	−.74**
xii	vaccine hesitancy												1

*p < .05, **p < .01.

Table 6. Hierarchical multiple regression for variables predicting vaccine hesitancy (N = 360).

Variables	R	R^2	Δ R^2	B	SE	β	t	Sig
Step 1	.54	.27	.27
(Constant)				23.2	3.676		6.32	<0.01
Age				.179	.057	.209	3.14	.049
Gender				−1.49	.755	−.098	−1.97	<0.01
Education				−1.77	.380	−.222	−4.66	.000
Income				−1.97	.000	−.034	−.728	.467
Step 2	.75	.56	.55
(Constant)				17.3	4.54	.029	3.83	<0.01
Age				.105	.046	.123	2.30	.022
Gender				.702	.609	.046	1.15	<0.01
Education				−.150	.325	−.019	−.463	.644
Income				7.56	.000	.013	.344	.731
Marital Status				−.314	.785	−.021	−.400	.690
Stress				.114	.017	.479	6.80	<0.01
Anxiety (HADS)				−.102	.110	−.066	−.927	.355
Depression (HADS)				.493	.116	.299	4.26	.300
Risk Perception				.041	.040	.044	1.03	<0.01
COVID Stigma Discrimination				−.316	.154	−.107	−2.04	.041

R = Correlation, R² = Variance, Δ R² = Change in R², β = Standardized Coefficient, B = Unstandardized Coefficient, SE = Standard Error.

**p < .01***p < .001.

Table 7. Hierarchical multiple analysis for variables predicting vaccine acceptance (N = 360).

Variables	R	R^2	Δ R^2	B	SE	Β	t	Sig
Step 1	.57	.33	.31
(Constant)				28.17	4.069		6.92	<0.01
Age				−.148	.063	−.152	−2.35	.019
Gender				2.975	.835	.171	3.56	<0.01
Education				2.432	.420	.267	5.78	<0.01
Income				1.74	.000	.003	.058	.954
Step 2	.80	.63	.62
(Constant)				26.65	4.719		5.64	<0.01
Age				−.019	.048	−.019	−.393	.695
Gender				1.474	.633	.085	2.32	<0.01
Education				.404	.338	.044	1.19	<0.01
Income				−1.23	.000	−.018	−.538	.591
Marital Status				.563	.816	.032	.691	.490
Stress				−.159	.017	−.589	−9.15	<0.01
Anxiety (HADS)				.183	.115	.103	1.59	.112
Depression (HADS)				−.240	.120	−.128	−1.99	.047
Risk Perception				.275	.041	.258	6.65	<0.01
COVID Stigma Discrimination				.257	.160	.076	1.60	.109

** p < .01, ***p < .001.

Table 8. Independent T-Test for vaccine hesitancy and vaccine acceptance within male and female participants (N = 360).

Scales	Female n = 182		Male n = 178				0.95% CI for Mean Difference
	M	SD	M	SD	t	p	L	U	Cohen’s d
Vaccine hesitancy	29.27	6.38	25.01	8.17	5.507	.000	2.742	5.787	0.58
Vaccine acceptance	26.52	7.73	32.18	8.60	−6.561	.000	−7.355	−3.962	0.69
Vaccine Acceptance (Perceived safety)	5.27	2.23	6.45	2.22	−4.999	.000	−1.637	−.7129	0.53
Vaccine Acceptance (Perceived Effectiveness)	5.79	2.29	7.22	2.60	−5.520	.000	−1.936	−.9189	0.50
Vaccine Acceptance (Selection Schedule)	5.23	2.25	6.39	2.29	−4.833	.000	−1.631	−.6878	0.048
Vaccine Acceptance (Positive Values)	6.55	1.67	7.15	2.08	−3.027	.003	−.9952	−.2113	0.31
Vaccine Acceptance (Perceived Legitimation)	3.67	1.79	4.96	2.22	−6.051	.000	−1.713	−.8726	0.63

N = Total Study’s Participants, f = frequency, % = percentage, SD = Standard deviation.