Factors Associated with COVID-19 Vaccination Hesitancy and Most Frequently Vaccinated Status in a Japanese...

While many countries across the world have had difficulty in providing continuous coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine boosters, in Japan, the number of COVID-19 vaccinations has increased rapidly in the past two years to the point where the vaccination booster numbers are now at the highest level in the world (by March 2023). Against this backdrop, this study aimed to determine the characteristics of individuals who either refused to be vaccinated or who were vaccinated multiple (five) times during this period. We analyzed data from a sample of 3710 Japanese adults that were collected in a nationwide, cross-sectional Internet survey that was undertaken in March 2023. Several demographics (e.g., age, education level, marital status, job status), medical conditions, daily smoking, and mental health/psychological factors (i.e., perceived stress, anxiety symptoms, loneliness) were associated with not having been vaccinated. Although the most frequently vaccinated status was also associated with some demographics (e.g., age, employment status), medical conditions, and daily smoking, other predictors such as having a COVID-19 infection history were unique to this outcome. Moreover, age-stratified analyses showed that depression (OR: 2.05, 95%CI: 1.08-3.89) and anxiety (OR: 3.87, 95%CI: 1.80-8.31) symptoms were associated with higher odds of being unvaccinated while loneliness was associated with lower odds for the most frequently vaccinated status (OR: 0.72, 95%CI: 0.54-0.96) among older adults (aged ≥ 60 years). The findings of this study indicate that many of the same factors are associated with vaccine hesitancy and being vaccinated multiple times among adults in Japan but that among older individuals, worse mental/psychological health problems may be important for vaccine hesitancy/infrequent vaccine uptake in an age range where the majority of individuals (57.7%) had been vaccinated five times.