COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake, Acceptance, and Hesitancy Among Persons With Mental Disorders During the Second Stage of China's Nationwide Vaccine Rollout

Hui Huang; Xiao-Min Zhu; Peng-Wei Liang; Zhong-Ming Fang; Wei Luo; Yi-Ming Ma; Bao-Liang Zhong; Helen Fung-Kum Chiu

doi:10.3389/fmed.2021.761601

COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake, Acceptance, and Hesitancy Among Persons With Mental Disorders During the Second Stage of China's Nationwide Vaccine Rollout

Front Med (Lausanne). 2021 Nov 11:8:761601. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2021.761601. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Hui Huang¹, Xiao-Min Zhu², Peng-Wei Liang³, Zhong-Ming Fang⁴, Wei Luo⁴, Yi-Ming Ma⁴, Bao-Liang Zhong^{1

4}, Helen Fung-Kum Chiu⁵

Affiliations

¹ Affliated Wuhan Mental Health Center, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
² Department of Psychiatry, Suzhou Guangji Hospital, The Affiliated Guangji Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
³ Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
⁴ Research Center for Psychological and Health Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.

Abstract

Persons with mental disorders (PwMDs) are a priority group for COVID-19 vaccination, but empirical data on PwMDs' vaccine uptake and attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines are lacking. This study examined the uptake, acceptance, and hesitancy associated with COVID-19 vaccines among Chinese PwMDs during China's nationwide vaccine rollout. In total, 906 adult PwMDs were consecutively recruited from a large psychiatric hospital in Wuhan, China, and administered a self-report questionnaire, which comprised standardized questions regarding sociodemographics, COVID-19 vaccination status, attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines, and psychopathology. Vaccine-recipients were additionally asked to report adverse events that occurred following vaccination. PwMDs had a much lower rate of vaccination than Wuhan residents (10.8 vs. 40.0%). The rates of vaccine acceptance and hesitancy were 58.1 and 31.1%, respectively. Factors associated with vaccine uptake included having other mental disorders [odds ratio (OR) = 3.63], believing that ≥50% of vaccine-recipients would be immune to COVID-19 (OR = 3.27), being not worried about the side effects (OR = 2.59), and being an outpatient (OR = 2.24). Factors associated with vaccine acceptance included perceiving a good preventive effect of vaccines (OR = 12.92), believing that vaccines are safe (OR = 4.08), believing that ≥50% of vaccine-recipients would be immune to COVID-19 (OR = 2.20), and good insight into the mental illness (OR = 1.71). Adverse events occurred in 21.4% of vaccine-recipients and exacerbated pre-existing psychiatric symptoms in 2.0% of vaccine-recipients. Nevertheless, 95.2% of vaccine-recipients rated adverse events as acceptable. Compared to the 58.1% vaccine acceptance rate and the 40.0% vaccination rate in the general population, the 10.8% vaccine coverage rate suggested a large unmet need for COVID-19 vaccination in Chinese PwMDs. Strategies to increase vaccination coverage among PwMDs may include provision of reliable sources of information on vaccines, health education to foster positive attitudes toward vaccines, a practical guideline to facilitate clinical decision-making for vaccination, and the involvement of psychiatrists in vaccine consultation and post-vaccination follow-up services.

Keywords: COVID-19; China; acceptance; hesitancy; mental disorders; uptake; vaccine.