Political Ideologies, Government Trust, and COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in South Korea: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Park, Hyun Kyung; Ham, Ji Hye; Jang, Deok Hyun; Lee, Jin Yong; Jang, Won Mo

doi:10.3390/ijerph182010655

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Political Ideologies, Government Trust, and COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in South Korea: A Cross-Sectional Survey

^1,†,

^2,†,

³,

^4,5

and

Won Mo Jang

^6,*

Health Insurance Research Institute, National Health Insurance Service, Wonju 26464, Korea

Department of Urban Health and Policy, Seoul Health Foundation, Seoul 04512, Korea

Research Analytics & Communications, Gallup Korea, Seoul 03167, Korea

⁴

Public Healthcare Center, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul 03080, Korea

⁵

Department of Health Policy and Management, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 03080, Korea

⁶

Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Seoul Metropolitan Government-Seoul National University Boramae Medical Centre, Seoul 07061, Korea

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

Hyun Kyung Park and Ji Hye Ham contributed equally to this paper as co-first authors.

Academic Editor: Paul B. Tchounwou

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(20), 10655; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010655

Received: 25 August 2021 / Revised: 5 October 2021 / Accepted: 7 October 2021 / Published: 12 October 2021

(This article belongs to the Collection COVID-19 Research)

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Abstract

This study aimed to assess the correlation between political ideologies, government trust, and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in South Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among South Korea’s general population and 1000 respondents (aged 18 years and older) were included. We used multivariate logistic regression models to identify the factors associated with vaccine hesitancy. Respondents who self-identified as liberal or held “no political opinion” had higher rates of vaccine hesitancy than conservative respondents. People’s trust in the government’s countermeasures was associated with vaccination. Respondents who had risk perceptions (affective and cognitive) of COVID-19 had lower rates of vaccine hesitancy. Perceptions that the vaccine was not safe and being aged 18–29, 30–39, or 40–49 were associated with a higher probability of vaccine hesitancy. This study found that even if vaccine safety and risk perceptions toward COVID-19 were adjusted, self-rated political ideologies and government trust was associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. More effort to communicate with those who are *liberal or “no political opinion”, younger, and have lower level of trust in the government are required to dissolve vaccine hesitancy. Further studies should analyze the mechanism of COVID-19 vaccine uptake for effective herd immunity. View Full-Text

Keywords: vaccine hesitancy; COVID-19 vaccine; political ideology; trust

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

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MDPI and ACS Style

Park, H.K.; Ham, J.H.; Jang, D.H.; Lee, J.Y.; Jang, W.M. Political Ideologies, Government Trust, and COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in South Korea: A Cross-Sectional Survey. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 10655. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010655

AMA Style

Park HK, Ham JH, Jang DH, Lee JY, Jang WM. Political Ideologies, Government Trust, and COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in South Korea: A Cross-Sectional Survey. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(20):10655. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010655

Chicago/Turabian Style

Park, Hyun K., Ji H. Ham, Deok H. Jang, Jin Y. Lee, and Won M. Jang. 2021. "Political Ideologies, Government Trust, and COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in South Korea: A Cross-Sectional Survey" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 20: 10655. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010655

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Political Ideologies, Government Trust, and COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in South Korea: A Cross-Sectional Survey

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