Psychological factors affecting COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in Indonesia

Abstract

Introduction: Increasing the rate of vaccination is crucial in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a survey of 112,888 Indonesians found that only 64.8% Indonesians were willing to be vaccinated, with 7.6% refusing all vaccines and 27.6% are unsure. Several factors were related to this vaccine hesitancy and refusal, such as cognitive reflection, trust in authoritative figures, and personality traits. This study aims to identify psychological determinants and other factors associated with vaccine hesitancy and vaccine refusal. This was a cross-sectional study with data collection done in March 2021 using a questionnaire. We collected demographic data, respondents' stance on vaccination, as well as their psychology measurement. IBM SPSS 26.0 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) was used for statistical analysis. Results: The data of 190 respondents were collected for this study. There are 165 respondents (86.8%) who belong to “vaccine acceptance”, while 25 are “vaccine hesitance” or “vaccine resistance.” Multivariate analysis shows that frequency of COVID-19 tests (p = 0.03), smoking status (p = 0.035), agreeableness trait (p = 0.001), trust in government (p = 0.04) and trust in scientist (p = 0.049) are significantly associated with the two population. Conclusion: Several demographic and psychological factors affect the COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. The government and other related parties should consider these factors when adjusting for future policies controlling the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing the vaccination rate.