Perceived health literacy and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among Chinese college students: A mediation analysis

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 17; no. 9; p. e0273285
• Main Authors: Jiang, Fangfang, Zhao, Yang, Bai, Jianling, Yang, Xueying, Zhang, Jiajia, Lin, Danhua, Li, Xiaoming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 02.09.2022; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Attitudes; Biology and Life Sciences; College students; Colleges & universities; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 - prevention & control; COVID-19 Vaccines; Effectiveness; Evaluation; Health aspects; Health Literacy; Health Status; Herd immunity; Humans; Literacy; Mediation Analysis; Medicine and Health Sciences; Pandemics; Patient Acceptance of Health Care; Research and Analysis Methods; Social Sciences; Students; Surveys; Vaccination - psychology; Vaccines; Young Adult; Young adults; China; Beijing China; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; Spain; India
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273285

Although COVID-19 vaccines hold the potential to dramatically alter the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine hesitancy remains a serious threat to the management and control of COVID-19 infections. Vaccination of young adults plays a crucial role in achieving herd immunity. However, the determinants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among the youth in China have not been fully explored. Our study aims to investigate the direct and indirect effects of perceived health literacy on COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. This survey was conducted among Chinese college students during September and October, 2020. COVID-19 vaccine acceptance was defined as the likelihood that participants would get a COVID-19 vaccine. A mediation analysis was employed to explore the direct and indirect effects of perceived health literacy on COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. A total of 2,587 college students were included in our study. The results of the survey revealed that the majority (80.40%) of the participants expressed high COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. After controlling for demographic characteristics, the relationship between perceived health literacy and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance was mediated by positive attitudes toward general vaccination (std.β = 0.004, p = 0.037) and self-efficacy of COVID-19 vaccine (std.β = 0.053, p < 0.001). The findings suggest that interventions targeting health literacy to promote COVID-19 vaccination coverage might consider placing greater emphasis on enhancing the positive attitude towards and self-efficacy of vaccines among youth.