Motivators and barriers to COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in Russia

Vaccine hesitancy is one of the major roadblocks to ending the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known about individuals' motivators and barriers to vaccination in Russia. We aimed to determine which factors were associated with COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in Russia. We conducted a cross-sectional, online survey across Russia at the end of 2021, during a time with increasing new cases of COVID-19. We used the Health Belief Model to test which of the constructs were associated with vaccine acceptance and controlled for demographic variables in the multivariate logistic regression analysis among our analytic sample of 550 respondents. About one-fifth (18.5%) of our study respondents reported vaccine hesitancy. Our multivariate analysis showed that perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, self-efficacy, and friends and family supporting vaccination (cue to action) all contributed to the likelihood of whether or not an individual was accepting of the COVID-19 vaccine. Analysis of our open-ended questions showed that individuals also considered the following factors in making decisions to vaccinate for COVID-19: policy restrictions, less worry, social responsibility, lack of trust, conspiracy theories, concerns about side effects and contraindications. Our results demonstrated the Health Belief Model to be a useful framework for understanding COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in Russia. Our study results highlight the need to focus on health beliefs in order to develop interventions to improve vaccine acceptance.