Sex differences in the relationship between post-vaccination adverse reactions, decision regret, and WTP for the booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Taizhou, China

Chengwen Luo; Hai-Xiao Chen; Tao-Hsin Tung

doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102538

Sex differences in the relationship between post-vaccination adverse reactions, decision regret, and WTP for the booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Taizhou, China

Prev Med Rep. 2023 Dec 6:37:102538. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102538. eCollection 2024 Jan.

Authors

Chengwen Luo¹, Hai-Xiao Chen², Tao-Hsin Tung¹

Affiliations

¹ Evidence-based Medicine Center, Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Linhai, China.
² Department of Orthopedics, Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Linhai, China.

Abstract

This study investigated sex differences in the relationship between post-vaccination adverse reactions, decision regret, and willingness to pay (WTP) for the booster dose of COVID-19 vaccines. This research carried out an online cross-sectional investigation among healthcare workers (HCWs) in Taizhou, China. In total, 1,054 respondents (165 males and 889 females) have received two-dose COVID-19 vaccination. We performed descriptive analysis, chi-square test, and mediation analysis on the exported data. In this study, 67 (40.6%) males and 429 (48.3%) females had WTP for the booster dose. Our study presented that decision regret mediated the effect of adverse reactions after vaccination on WTP for the booster dose in both male and female groups. In males, decision regret played a completely mediating role, while in females, it acted as a partial mediator. Sex differences in the relationship between post-vaccination side effects, decision regret, and WTP for the third dose were demonstrated in a sample of healthcare workers.

Keywords: COVID-19; Decision regret; Sex difference; Vaccination side effect; Willingness to pay.