Concerns and Challenges Related to Sputnik V Vaccination Against the Novel COVID-19 Infection in the Russian Federation: The Role of Mental Health, and Personal and Social Issues as Targets for Future Psychosocial Interventions

Anna V Vasileva; Tatiana A Karavaeva; Dmitriy S Radionov; Alexander V Yakovlev; Igor N Mitin; Emanuele Caroppo; Sergey I Barshak; Kirill S Nazarov

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.835323

Concerns and Challenges Related to Sputnik V Vaccination Against the Novel COVID-19 Infection in the Russian Federation: The Role of Mental Health, and Personal and Social Issues as Targets for Future Psychosocial Interventions

Front Psychiatry. 2022 Jun 14:13:835323. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.835323. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Anna V Vasileva^{1

2}, Tatiana A Karavaeva^{1

3

4

5}, Dmitriy S Radionov¹, Alexander V Yakovlev^{6

7}, Igor N Mitin⁸, Emanuele Caroppo⁹, Sergey I Barshak⁸, Kirill S Nazarov⁸

Affiliations

¹ Federal State Budgetary Institution «V. M. Bekhterev National Research Medical Center for Psychiatry and Neurology» of the Russian Federation Ministry of Health, Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
² I. I. Mechnikov North-Western Medical State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
³ Federal State Budgetary Institution of Higher Education «Saint-Petersburg State University», Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
⁴ Federal State Budgetary Institution of Higher Education «Saint-Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University» of the Ministry Healthcare of Russian Federation, Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
⁵ Federal State Budget Institution «National Medical Research Center of Oncology Named After N. N. Petrov» of the Russian Federation Ministry of Health, Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
⁶ Federal State Budgetary Military Educational Institution of Higher Education «Military Medical Academy Named After S. M. Kirov »of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
⁷ Saint-Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
⁸ Federal State Budgetary Institution "Federal Research and Clinical Center of Sport Medicine and Rehabilitation of Federal Medical Biological Agency", Moscow, Russia.
⁹ Local Health Unit ASL Roma 2, Rome, Italy.

Abstract

Background: Vaccine hesitancy causes serious difficulties in vaccination campaigns in many countries. The study of the population's attitude toward vaccination and detection of the predictive important individual psychological and social factors defining the vaccination necessity perception will allow elaborating promoting vaccination adherence measures.

Objectives: The aim of this research was to study COVID-19 threat appraisal, fear of COVID-19, trust in COVID-19 information sources, COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, and the relationship of sociodemographic variables to COVID-19 preventive behavior.

Methods: We carried out a cohort cross-sectional study of the population's attitude toward vaccination against the novel COVID-19 coronavirus infection, using a specially designed questionnaire for an online survey. Totally, there were 4,977 respondents, ranging in age from 18 to 81 years. Statistical assessment was carried out using the SPSS-11 program.

Results: There were different attitudes toward vaccination. Among respondents, 34.2% considered vaccination to be useful, 31.1% doubted its effectiveness, and 9.9% considered vaccination unnecessary. The survey indicated that 7.4% of respondents were indifferent to the vaccine, while 12.2% deemed it to be dangerous. Nearly one-third (32.3%) of respondents indicated that they did not plan to be vaccinated, while another third (34.0%) would postpone their decision until more comprehensive data on the results and effectiveness of vaccination were available. Only 11.6% of the respondents were vaccinated at the time of the study. Young people were less focused on vaccination compared to middle-aged and elderly people. Receiving information concerning COVID-19 vaccination from healthcare workers and scientific experts was associated with greater vaccination acceptance.

Conclusion: The study results showed that vaccination attitudes interacted with individuals' mental health and various sociodemographic factors. Insofar as reports of physicians and experts are essential for shaping attitudes to vaccination, the study results inform the selection of target groups in need of particular psychosocial interventions to overcome their vaccine hesitancy.

Keywords: COVID-19; attitudes toward vaccination; coronavirus infection; pandemic; psychosocial interventions targets.