{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,2]],"date-time":"2026-11-02T10:53:39Z","timestamp":1793616819559,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"Cambridge University Press (CUP)","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,11]],"date-time":"2021-06-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1623369600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["cambridge.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Psychol. Med."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:sec id=\"S0033291721002609_sec_a1\"><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>When vaccination depends on injection, it is plausible that the blood-injection-injury cluster of fears may contribute to hesitancy. Our primary aim was to estimate in the UK adult population the proportion of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy explained by blood-injection-injury fears.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec id=\"S0033291721002609_sec_a2\" sec-type=\"methods\"><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>In total, 15 014 UK adults, quota sampled to match the population for age, gender, ethnicity, income and region, took part (19 January\u20135 February 2021) in a non-probability online survey. The Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Scale assessed intent to be vaccinated. Two scales (Specific Phobia Scale-blood-injection-injury phobia and Medical Fear Survey\u2013injections and blood subscale) assessed blood-injection-injury fears. Four items from these scales were used to create a factor score specifically for injection fears.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec id=\"S0033291721002609_sec_a3\" sec-type=\"results\"><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>In total, 3927 (26.2%) screened positive for blood-injection-injury phobia. Individuals screening positive (22.0%) were more likely to report COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy compared to individuals screening negative (11.5%), odds ratio = 2.18, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.97\u20132.40, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> &lt; 0.001. The population attributable fraction (PAF) indicated that if blood-injection-injury phobia were absent then this may prevent 11.5% of all instances of vaccine hesitancy, AF = 0.11; 95% CI 0.09\u20130.14, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> &lt; 0.001. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy was associated with higher scores on the Specific Phobia Scale, <jats:italic>r<\/jats:italic> = 0.22, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> &lt; 0.001, Medical Fear Survey, <jats:italic>r<\/jats:italic> = 0.23, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> = &lt;0.001 and injection fears, <jats:italic>r<\/jats:italic> = 0.25, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> &lt; 0.001. Injection fears were higher in youth and in Black and Asian ethnic groups, and explained a small degree of why vaccine hesitancy is higher in these groups.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec id=\"S0033291721002609_sec_a4\" sec-type=\"conclusions\"><jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title><jats:p>Across the adult population, blood-injection-injury fears may explain approximately 10% of cases of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Addressing such fears will likely improve the effectiveness of vaccination programmes.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1017\/s0033291721002609","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,11]],"date-time":"2021-06-11T06:32:22Z","timestamp":1623393142000},"page":"1185-1195","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/policypage","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":141,"title":["Injection fears and COVID-19 vaccine 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