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Public Policy Measures to Increase Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination Rate in Russia

Author

Listed:
  • Dmitry V. Boguslavsky

    (Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology of Russian Academy of Sciences, 26 Vavilov Street, 119334 Moscow, Russia)

  • Natalia P. Sharova

    (Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology of Russian Academy of Sciences, 26 Vavilov Street, 119334 Moscow, Russia)

  • Konstantin S. Sharov

    (Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology of Russian Academy of Sciences, 26 Vavilov Street, 119334 Moscow, Russia)

Abstract

The total vaccination rate remains relatively low in Russia as of March 2022 (around 55%, with around 20% in some regions). In the paper, we study the reasons for it. We communicate the results of our survey aimed at detecting reasons for the relatively low anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination rate in Russia (47.1% as of mid-January 2022) and suggest potential measures to increase the level of confidence in the Russian vaccination campaign. A total of 14,310 users exhibited interest to participate in the research (16.84% of the total number of invitations sent in the Russian social network VKontakte). After the sample set repair, only 5822 (40.68% of those who agreed to participate) responses were suitable for the research, and they composed the final set. The age range of the respondents was 16–51 years old (y.o.) with a mean of 29.1 ± 10.6 y.o. The proportion of the female gender in responses was 44.23%. A total of 2454 persons (42.15%) expressed their hesitant, cautious, or negative attitude towards vaccine uptake. Of the 2454 persons with cautious attitude towards vaccination, only 928 (37.82%) were concerned about the quality of the Russian vaccines. A total of 1323 individuals (53.91%) supported one or more conspiracy beliefs. A total of 5064 (86.98% of the whole set) showed cautious or negative attitude towards the planned introduction of a nationwide system of vaccination certification/verification based on QR codes. The main social factors that hinder the Russian vaccination campaign are: vexation over the lack of desire of officials to receive feedback from the general population regarding vaccination, wide support for conspiracy beliefs, and controversy over the QR code-based digital system. To elevate the vaccination rate in Russia, the following steps may be taken: social encouragement of those who support vaccination, increase in transparency of the vaccination campaign, acceptance of both digital and paper vaccination certificates, increase in participation of society in vaccination-related discussions, public disclosure of vaccine composition, and avoidance of excessive digitalization of data in the vaccination campaign.

Suggested Citation

  • Dmitry V. Boguslavsky & Natalia P. Sharova & Konstantin S. Sharov, 2022. "Public Policy Measures to Increase Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination Rate in Russia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-15, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:6:p:3387-:d:770338
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shadi Shahsavari & Pavan Holur & Tianyi Wang & Timothy R. Tangherlini & Vwani Roychowdhury, 2020. "Conspiracy in the time of corona: automatic detection of emerging COVID-19 conspiracy theories in social media and the news," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 279-317, November.
    2. Paul M. Garrett & YuWen Wang & Joshua P. White & Shulan Hsieh & Carol Strong & Yi-Chan Lee & Stephan Lewandowsky & Simon Dennis & Cheng-Ta Yang, 2021. "Young Adults View Smartphone Tracking Technologies for COVID-19 as Acceptable: The Case of Taiwan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-18, February.
    3. Fu Gu & Yingwen Wu & Xinyu Hu & Jianfeng Guo & Xiaohan Yang & Xinze Zhao, 2021. "The Role of Conspiracy Theories in the Spread of COVID-19 across the United States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-14, April.
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