Change in self-perceived vaccine confidence in France after the COVID-19 vaccination campaign: A cross-sectional survey in the French general population

Abstract

Introduction

High COVID-19 vaccine coverage was obtained in France after theCOVID-19 vaccination campaign, in part due to the implementation of a COVID-19 vaccination pass, a kind of vaccine mandate. Vaccine mandates could lead to reactance and may affect confidence in vaccines. We aimed to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign on self-perceived vaccine confidence in France.

Methods

Between the 25th of April and the 9th of May 2022, we conducted a cross-sectional online survey among a representative sample of the French population aged 18 and over. The primary outcome was the perceived change in vaccine confidence after the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. We performed a multinomial regression analysis to identify factors associated with perceived decrease and increase in vaccine confidence in reference to no change.

Results

Among the 1,928 respondents, decrease in vaccine confidence was reported by 579 (30 %) and increase in vaccine confidence by 259 (13.4%). Among the 1,711 vaccinated individuals, 693 (40.5%), 404 (23.6%) respectively reported that they felt strongly and a little coerced into getting vaccinated against COVID-19. Younger age, feeling coerced to get vaccinated, low confidence in health authorities, fears about vaccine side effects, and not considering vaccination as a collective responsibility were associated with perceived decrease in vaccine confidence in multivariable analysis. Men were more prone than women to report a gain in vaccine confidence.

Conclusion

Vaccination campaign that included coercive measures to raise high COVID-19 vaccine coverage could have led to reactance and with an impact on vaccine confidence in general.