# Beyond emotions: Social cognitive predictors of COVID-19 vaccination intentions before and after vaccine roll-out

## TL;DR

This study explores how people's beliefs and social factors influenced their willingness to get vaccinated against COVID-19 before and after vaccines became available.

## Contribution

The study reveals that self-efficacy and perceived disease severity are consistent predictors of vaccination intentions across pandemic phases.

## Key findings

- Self-efficacy and perceived severity consistently predicted stronger vaccination intentions before and after vaccine rollout.
- Perceived susceptibility was negatively linked to vaccination intention before rollout but not after.
- Psychological variables like stress and affect did not significantly predict vaccination intentions.

## Abstract

Understanding the drivers of COVID-19 vaccination intentions remains relevant as public health systems prepare for future pandemics. This study examined how emotional and social-cognitive factors influence COVID-19 vaccination intentions during two key phases of the COVID-19 pandemic: before (April-June 2020) and after (January-February 2021) vaccination rollout. A total of 586 adults completed an online survey assessing beliefs about COVID-19, self-efficacy to adhere to protective behaviours, perceived stress, affect, psychological flexibility, and prosociality. Self-efficacy, prosociality, psychological flexibility and positive affect significantly declined after vaccination rollout. Higher self-efficacy and perceived severity of the disease consistently predicted stronger vaccination intentions across time points. Perceived susceptibility was negatively associated with vaccination intention before, but not after rollout. The psychological variables were not significant predictors of intentions. These findings underscore the importance of social-cognitive factors, especially self-efficacy and perceived severity, in shaping vaccination-related decisions, with implications for designing effective communication strategies in future health emergencies.