An Exploration of the Relationship Between Vaccine Knowledge and Vaccine Willingness

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has lasted nearly three years, costing millions of lives worldwide. How-ever, increased availability of COVID-19 vaccines has provided an opportunity to increase survival rates. Willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine has seen fluctuations in the United States. Key pivotal shifts have been due to increasing accessibility of COVID-19 vaccines and public knowledge of how COVID-19 vaccines work, largely influenced by both the spread of information and misinformation. This study exam-ined patterns between COVID-19 vaccine knowledge and willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in southern California residents over 18. Responding to an online survey, participants (n = 77) reported demographic information (including vaccine status), rated their willingness to receive the vaccine based on social pressures and perceived safety. Participants also answered questions about their individual and perceived vaccine knowledge. Data were analyzed using Pearson’s r. In support of the hypotheses, participants with higher levels of vaccine knowledge and greater perceived threat of COVID-19 were more willing to receive a vaccine. However, perception of vaccine knowledge was not significantly correlated with vaccine willingness or actual vaccine knowledge. Our findings add further understanding of factors that influence willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The results can inform researchers, policy makers, and the general public, furthering progress toward sufficiently immunizing the American population against COVID-19.