Background

Vaccines represent one of the best ways to counter the COVID-19 pandemic. However, vaccine hesitancy among the population limits the effectiveness of vaccines. Recent research has explored the role of religion in vaccine hesitancy, but in doing so has encountered a “black box” problem. There is a relationship between religion and vaccine hesitancy, but the explanation for why remains unclear.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between religion and vaccine hesitancy. We propose that how an individual conceptualizes God/a higher power is associated with getting vaccinated for COVID-19.

Methods

We use data from a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults, collected using the Amerispeak® probability-based panel via the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. We examine the association between individuals’ views of God/a higher power as both a supervisory and an intervening figure on vaccine uptake and likelihood of getting vaccinated through logistic regressions.

Results

We find that belief in God’s/a higher power’s supervision is not significantly associated with the odds of COVID-19 vaccine uptake or vaccination intent. However, belief in God’s/a higher power’s ability to intervene in the world is significantly and negatively associated with the odds of COVID-19 vaccine uptake and the odds of having received or planning to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. In addition, in models where belief in the ability of God/a higher power to intervene are included, Christian nationalism ceases to have a statistically significant association with intent to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

Conclusions and implications:

These findings suggest that how individuals conceptualize God/a higher power is associated with their willingness to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Given this, those who see God/a higher power as more involved in the world may contribute to delays in achieving herd immunity. This information benefits those working on vaccination campaigns in understanding the beliefs of some of those who are most hesitant to get vaccinated. In addition, this intervention mechanism could also mediate other negative relationships between religion and other science and health-related concerns.

中文翻译：

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“上帝会保护我们”：相信上帝/更高权力的干预能力和 COVID-19 疫苗的吸收

背景

疫苗是对抗 COVID-19 大流行的最佳方法之一。然而，人群中的疫苗犹豫限制了疫苗的有效性。最近的研究探讨了宗教在疫苗犹豫中的作用，但这样做遇到了“黑匣子”问题。宗教与疫苗犹豫之间存在关系，但其原因尚不清楚。

目的

本研究的目的是探讨宗教与疫苗犹豫之间的关系。我们建议个人如何概念化上帝/更高的力量与接种 COVID-19 疫苗有关。

方法

我们使用来自美国成年人的全国代表性调查数据，这些数据是通过芝加哥大学国家舆论研究中心 (NORC) 使用 Amerispeak® 基于概率的面板收集的。我们通过逻辑回归检查了个人对上帝/更高权力的看法之间的关联，作为监督和干预的数字，疫苗摄取和接种疫苗的可能性。

结果

我们发现相信上帝/更高权力的监督与 COVID-19 疫苗接种的几率或疫苗接种意图没有显着相关性。然而，相信上帝/更高权力干预世界的能力与 COVID-19 疫苗接种的几率以及已经接种或计划接种 COVID-19 疫苗的几率显着负相关。此外，在包含相信上帝的能力/更高的干预权力的模型中，基督教民族主义不再与接受 COVID-19 疫苗的意图具有统计学上的显着关联。

结论和启示：

这些发现表明，个人如何概念化上帝/更高的力量与他们是否愿意接种 COVID-19 疫苗有关。鉴于此，那些认为上帝/更高权力更多地参与世界的人可能会导致延迟实现群体免疫。这些信息有助于那些从事疫苗接种运动的人了解一些最不愿接种疫苗的人的信念。此外，这种干预机制还可以调解宗教与其他科学和健康相关问题之间的其他负面关系。