General Vaccination Readiness in Japan: Results from the JASTIS 2023 Study.

Abstract

General vaccine hesitancy is a global concern. Clarifying general vaccination readiness and the psychological factors comprising it is important. Previous studies reported that Japan has one of the lowest vaccine confidence levels worldwide. However, the status of other psychological factors comprising general vaccination readiness in Japan remains unclear. Therefore, we aimed to clarify the status of seven psychological factors comprising general vaccination readiness and their patterns in Japan. This descriptive study utilized data from a large-scale nationwide internet survey (Japan Society and New Tobacco Internet Survey 2023 study, N = 31,037). Seven psychological factors were assessed using the 7C of vaccination readiness scale. Cluster analysis was performed using k-means++ clustering to clarify patterns. Of the seven factors, support for social monitoring of people refusing vaccination (e.g., vaccine passports) was very low among the participants. Cluster analysis showed that the participants' vaccination readiness could be classified into six patterns, of which the very low vaccination readiness cluster, with the lowest scores for most psychological factors, accounted for 11.1% and was more common among those aged 30-49 years (13.1-16.4%). Individuals in this cluster may refuse to receive recommended vaccines.