The present research aimed at understanding individuals' vaccination intentions and protective behaviours against COVID-19 through two different studies. In Study 1 (N = 213, 73% women; mean age = 24.03) the Protection Motivation Theory model was tested considering the fear of COVID-19 as a possible mediator between threat appraisal (in terms of both health and social life) and intentions to get vaccinated when the vaccination was not yet available. Study 2 (N = 1111, 68.9% women; mean age = 38.33) was conducted when the vaccine became available for the entire population. Through this study, by adopting the 5C model of vaccine hesitancy as a theoretical framework, we aimed to understand how people who got vaccinated and the ones who did not differed, considering fear of vaccination, personality and vaccination hesitancy. In Study 1, social limitations, perceived severity and COVID-19 perceived vulnerability were significantly and positively related to fear of COVID-19. Contrary to what we expected, fear of COVID-19 was not a significant predictor of vaccination intention, which was predicted by both response efficacy and self-efficacy. In Study 2, in line with previous studies, vaccine hesitancy was negatively related to vaccination. More specifically, the social-oriented dimension of collective responsibility was the strongest predictor of effective behaviour. Our findings provide insights into the complexity of vaccine acceptance and emphasise the need for targeted interventions to promote vaccination and mitigate the spread of infectious diseases.
Keywords: COVID-19 vaccination; fear; health behaviour; prediction; protection motivation theory; psychology; vaccination hesitancy.