An interesting article about a cross-sectional study among the Hungarian population by Dr. Tamás Joó and colleagues, was published in the December 2021 issue of BMC Public Health.
The willingness to get COVID-19 or seasonal influenza vaccines has not yet been thoroughly investigated together, the study aimed to explore this notion within the general adult population.
The responses of 840 Hungarian participants who took part in a nationwide computer-assisted telephone interview were analyzed. During the survey, the experts asked about various demographic characteristics, perceived financial status, and willingness to get the two types of vaccines. They conducted descriptive statistics, comparative statistics, and word co-occurrence network analysis.
48.2% of participants were willing to get a COVID-19 vaccine, while this ratio for seasonal influenza was only 25.7% – a significant difference. Regardless of how the participants were grouped, based on demographic data or perceived financial status, the considerable difference always persisted. Being older than 59 years significantly increased the willingness to get both vaccines when compared to the middle-aged groups but not when compared to the younger ones. Having higher education significantly elevated the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination compared to secondary education. The willingness to get any COVID-19 vaccine correlated with the willingness to get both influenza and COVID-19. Finally, those willing to get either vaccine combined similar words to describe their thoughts about a COVID-19 vaccination.
The overall results showed a clear preference for a COVID-19 vaccine, and there are several similarities like willingness to get either type of vaccine.
Read the full article here: https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-021-12386-0