Personal Willingness To Receive a COVID-19 Vaccine and Its Relationship With Intergroup Psychology: Evidence From the Philippines and Pakistan

• Main Authors: Zagefka, Hanna, Dela Paz, Erwine, Macapagal, Ma. Elizabeth J, Ghazal, Saima
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2022
• Subjects: Covid-19; donations; intergroup helping; intergroup processes; intergroup prosociality; international political relations; out-group helping; political relations; vaccination; vaccine hesitancy; Health Communication; Psychology; Public Health
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/psychology-faculty-pubs/367; https://iaap-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aphw.12334
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

High levels of vaccine hesitancy are an obstacle to the successful management of the Covid-19 pandemic. In this research, we identify psychological correlates of reluctance to personally receive a Covid-19 vaccine, with a focus on intergroup relations. Insights are based on two survey studies conducted in traditionally underresearched settings, the Philippines (N = 289) and Pakistan (N = 275). Results show that trust in vaccines, concerning both the vaccine's efficacy and the vaccine's safety, was associated with willingness to use the vaccine. Perceptions of trust were related to intergroup psychology, such that vaccine donations from political opponents rather than allies were trusted less. This meant that in the Philippines, there was a preference to use vaccines from the United States over those from China, although the pattern was less clear in Pakistan. Having said this, the highest levels of trust and willingness to use vaccines in both countries were for vaccines offered by the World Health Organization (WHO). Last but not least, a perception of global common fate of all humans in the face of the pandemic was positively associated with willingness to get vaccinated, even when controlling for concerns about the vaccine's efficacy and safety. Implications are discussed in relation to intergroup psychology and public health management.