Survey data of the health literacy on COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccination in Indonesia

Introduction: Health literacy on COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccination is valuable during the pandemic. The objective of this study was to determine the levels of health literacy about the COVID-19 vaccine and vaccination (Vaccine and Vaccination literacy—VL) in the Indonesian adult general population, assessing the perceptions of the respondents/interviewees about current adult immunization and beliefs about vaccination in general, and analyzing correlations of these variables with the VL levels. Methods: A rapid survey was administered via the web. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential stats; the internal consistency of the VL scales was assessed through Cronbach's alpha coefficient, and a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was conducted to investigate how the questions of the functional and interactive-critical VL scales were related to one another and whether the underlying components (factors) and each question's load on the components could be identified as anticipated. An alpha level lesser than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Answers to functional- and interactive/ critical- VL questions showed good/ acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.817 and 0.699, respectively), lowest values observed were 0.806 for functional scale and 0.640 for the interactive-critical scale. PCA showed two components accounting for 52.45% of the total variability. Approximately 60% of respondents were females (n=686). Almost all respondents used the internet to seek information regarding COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccination. Many used at least one social media actively with 74.4% of respondents sometimes believing the validity of this information. Conclusions: High scores were observed in both functional- and interactive/ critical-VL, and were quite balanced between genders in the prior VL and higher in females for the latter; these were also closely related to the educational level and age group. It is crucial to increase public health literacy on managing the pandemic.Funding provided by: Universitas AirlanggaCrossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100008463Award Number: SK. Rektor 390/UN3/202