Vaccine hesitancy and its relationship with adverse childhood and protective and compensatory experiences: A...

Although increasing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination coverage is a measure to prevent the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, a certain percentage of people refuse to be vaccinated (i.e., vaccine hesitancy [VH]), and there are various reports on the reasons behind this. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been reported to reduce trust in health services and may negatively impact lifelong health and well-being. Several studies have examined the effects of protective and compensatory experiences (PACEs) in mitigating the negative impact of ACEs. This study aimed to investigate the association between COVID-19 vaccination status and ACEs and the vaccination status of patients who experienced PACEs. Additionally, we examined whether PACEs influence individuals' vaccination intentions by examining whether those who experienced ACEs as children and subsequently experienced PACEs were more receptive to vaccination than those who did not subsequently experience PACEs. This cross-sectional study investigated the relationship between ACEs and PACEs and the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination using a questionnaire from the COVID-19 seROprevalence Neighborhood Association study among adults in Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. Individuals with ACEs were significantly more likely to experience VH (odds ratio: 3.66, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.31-10.27) than those without. Vaccination coverage tended to be higher among those with PACEs (odds ratio: 0.24, 95% CI: 0.05-1.15) than among those without, though the difference was not statistically significant. In contrast, those who had experienced ACEs and subsequently PACEs showed no difference in vaccination coverage (odds ratio: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.05-4.22) compared with those who had experienced ACEs and subsequently did not experience PACEs. In Japan, a significantly high proportion of patients with VH experienced ACEs. Our findings indicate that PACEs did not enhance vaccination intentions among individuals with ACEs. However, further comprehensive studies are required to establish definitive and robust associations.