Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2: predictors of vaccination resistance in young adults in Spain

Rationale: widespread population vaccination against the SARS-CoV-2 virus is a matter ofgreat interest to public health managers as it is the main pharmacological measureto contain the COVID-19 epidemic. Hesitancy or reluctance to vaccination hasbecome one of the main barriers to containing the pandemic. The young adultpopulation appears as one of the population clusters with the greatest reluctance tovaccination, even in countries such as Spain, one of those with the highestvaccination rate during this pandemic. Objective: the aim of this study was to identify the main predictive factors of vaccinationintention and profile people with hesitancy/reluctance to vaccinate againstSARS-CoV-2 virus in young adults living in Spain during the pandemic. Method: a cross-sectional study was carried out based on the administration of an onlineform (PSY-COVID-2) that evaluated the intention of vaccination together with a widerange of sociodemographic, social, cognitive, behavioral and affective variables in asample of 2210 young adults. Results: 14% of the young adults sample showed hesitancy/reluctance to vaccination at thebeginning of their vaccination campaign. Pearson`s product-moment correlationrevealed that a total of 35 factors of a heterogeneous nature were associated withthe intention to vaccinate. Analysis of variance showed that belonging to healthpersonnel, threat to personal health, tolerance of confinement, favorable attitude tomobility restrictions, to preventive measures, to the vaccine and to the public systemresponse, trust in the government and health/science experts, personality(extraversion and agreeableness), time and quality of information about COVID-19,and coping strategy of seeking emotional support were conditions associated withthe intention to vaccinate against SARS-CoV-2. In contrast, conspiratorial thinkingabout COVID-19, availability of public resources for mental health, good post-pandemic mood, and coping strategies of seeking family support and substance use were conditions associated with hesitancy/reluctance to vaccination. A multiple linear regression analysis showed that a reduced set of 4 attitudinal and social variables explained 41% of the variability in vaccination intention: attitude towards vaccination, trust in health/science experts, conspiracy ideations and time spent on information about COVID-19. A discriminant analysis showed that these 4 variables had good sensitivity and specificity when classifying people as reluctant/not reluctant to vaccination, properly classifying 86% of people. Conclusions: psychosocial processes related to attitudes, trust and information are the main predictors of vaccination intention in a highly reluctant group such as the young adult population.