Associations between Health Literacy, Trust, and COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: The Case of Hong Kong

This study investigates how health literacy (HL) and trust in health information affected COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Chinese Hong Kong adults. A cross-sectional study was conducted in August 2022. A total of 401 participants completed the study. Participants completed a newly developed Hong Ko...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Vaccines (Basel) 2023-03, Vol.11 (3), p.562
Main Authors: Tian, Cindy Yue, Mo, Phoenix Kit-Han, Dong, Dong, Qiu, Hong, Cheung, Annie Wai-Ling, Wong, Eliza Lai-Yi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 vaccines
Gender
Health education
Health literacy
Literacy
mediation analysis
Methods
Pandemics
Public concern
Social networks
Social skills
Trust (Psychology)
Vaccination
vaccine hesitancy
Vaccines
Validity
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Summary:This study investigates how health literacy (HL) and trust in health information affected COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Chinese Hong Kong adults. A cross-sectional study was conducted in August 2022. A total of 401 participants completed the study. Participants completed a newly developed Hong Kong HL scale and self-reported their trust levels in health information from different resources. The proportions of early uptake of the first dose and booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine were 69.1% and 71.8%, respectively. The risk of delaying the first dose was higher among participants with inadequate functional HL (OR = 0.58, = 0.015), adequate levels of two subdomains of critical HL (OR = 1.82, = 0.013; OR = 1.91, < 0.01), and low-level trust in health information from the government (OR = 0.57, = 0.019). Respondents with adequate interactive HL (OR = 0.52, = 0.014) and inadequate level of one subdomain of critical HL (OR =1.71, = 0.039) were more likely to delay the booster dose. This negative association between critical HL and vaccination was suppressed by trust in health information from the government. This study shows that HL and trust in health information from the government are associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Efforts should be directed at providing tailored communication strategies with regard to people's HL and increasing public confidence in health authorities to decrease vaccine hesitancy.
ISSN:2076-393X
2076-393X
DOI:10.3390/vaccines11030562