Injection fears and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy

Background: When vaccination depends on injection, it is plausible that the blood-injectioninjury cluster of fears may contribute to hesitancy. Our primary aim was to estimate in the UK adult population the proportion of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy explained by blood-injectioninjury fears.

Methods: 15,014 UK adults, quota sampled to match the population for age, gender, ethnicity, income, and region, took part (19th January–5th February 2021) in a nonprobability online survey. The Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Scale assessed intent to be vaccinated. Two scales (Specific Phobia Scale-blood-injection-injury phobia; Medical Fear Survey–injections and blood subscale) assessed blood-injection-injury fears. Four items from these scales were used to create a factor score specifically for injection fears.

Results: 3927 (26.2%) screened positive for blood-injection-injury phobia. Individuals screening positive (22.0%) were more likely to report COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy than individuals screening negative (11.5%), odds ratio=2.18, CI: 1.97-2.40, p<.001. The population attributable fraction indicated that if blood-injection-injury phobia were absent then this may prevent 11.5% of all instances of vaccine hesitancy, AF=0.11; 95% CI: 0.09-0.14, p<0.001. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy was associated with higher scores on the Specific Phobia Scale, r=0.22, p<.001, Medical Fear Survey, r=0.23, p=<.001, and injection fears, r=0.25, p<.001. Injection fears were higher in youth and in Black and Asian ethnic groups, and explained a small degree of why vaccine hesitancy is higher in these groups.

Conclusions: Across the adult population, blood-injection-injury fears may explain approximately 10% of cases of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Addressing such fears will likely improve the effectiveness of vaccination programmes.