Are more religious people less willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19?

Abstract

Some researchers have investigated whether religiosity is one of the causes of people’s hesitancy to get vaccinated against COVID-19, but the results of the literature are inconsistent. This study aimed to test whether the intention to vaccinate could be predicted by participants’ religiosity, controlling for variables such as political orientation and trust in scientists. Study participants were 270 Brazilians, who used an online platform to respond. Intention to be vaccinated was assessed by the item “When the Covid-19 vaccine is offered, will you get vaccinated?”, whose response options ranged from “1 – Definitely not” to “5 – Definitely yes”. Organizational religious activity (ORA), non-organizational religious activity (NORA) and intrinsic religiosity (IR) were assessed by The Duke Religion Scale (DUREL). Unlike NORA and IR, the participants who had higher levels of ORA were less willing to be vaccinated. The possible mechanisms that explain these findings are discussed.