Analysis of People's Attitude Toward COVID-19 Vaccine and Its Information Sources in Thailand

Introduction Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine hesitancy has become a global problem. Therefore, we aimed to determine the relationship between the information sources on vaccines and the willingness of people to be vaccinated in Thailand. Methods A sample of 500 respondents was drawn from an Internet research panel, and a questionnaire survey was administered to evaluate respondents' willingness to be vaccinated by sex, age group, educational background, occupation, and presence of chronic diseases, as well as their information sources on COVID19 vaccines. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were employed to assess the relationship between vaccine hesitancy/refusal and other variables. Results Our results demonstrated that 90.2% of the participants were either willing to vaccinate or were already vaccinated. By contrast, 6.0% were hesitant and 3.8% did not want to be vaccinated. Females, people with education less than master's/bachelor's degree or high school, day laborers, housewives, and unemployed were significantly related to vaccine hesitation/refusal. Furthermore, they were less likely than the vaccine willingness group to use information resources from the Ministry of Health, public health centers, or medical associations. Conclusions As vaccine hesitancy and refusal ratio were found to be substantially lower than in a previous study for Thailand and other countries, public authorities should poll the public to identify vaccine-hesitant populations and their reasoning and provide appropriate information directly to the general public.

Automated summary

This study examines the relationship between information sources on COVID-19 vaccines and the willingness of people in Thailand to be vaccinated. The results indicate that the majority of Thai residents are willing to receive vaccines, but a portion of the population exhibits vaccine hesitancy or refusal. Females, individuals with lower education levels, day laborers, housewives, and the unemployed are more likely to hesitate or refuse vaccination. Moreover, they are less likely to use information resources from the Ministry of Health, public health centers, or medical associations.