Structure of motivational factors for vaccination against COVID-19

Structure of motivational factors for vaccination against COVID-19: abstract Bc. et Bc. Hana Šiková This thesis studies the structure of motives for receiving the vaccine against the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, which caused a pandemic beginning in 2020. A survey was conducted on a representative sample of the Czech population available online aged 18-64. Networks were con- structed using partial correlations. On these networks, centralities of motives (represented by nodes) were measured (strength, betweenness, closeness, and Expected Influence). It found that groups based on socio-demographic char- acteristics did not differ from each other, while groups defined by their time of registration for the vaccine did differ significantly. Four groups of motives were identified with factor analysis: vaccine benefits, outside forces, medi- cal assessment, and accessibility. In the networks, however, there was little tendency for clustering, suggesting well connected belief systems. Generally, a central motive was the belief that vaccination is generally a right thing to do, combined with a recommendation from a medical authority. The vacci- nation decision of people around had no influence in the system of motives. Results of this and similar studies can be used for effective targeting of future vaccine..