Perceived Barriers and Intentions to Receive COVID-19 Vaccines: Psychological Distress as a Moderator

A high vaccination uptake degree is crucial to achieve herd immunity to COVID-19 and restrict the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known about the antecedents that reduce or contribute to shaping the intention to receive COVID-19 vaccines, as well as how psychological distress—a mental health problem—can reinforce or dampen the translation from antecedents into intention to receive COVID-19 vaccines. The objective of this study was to explore the effects of perceived clinical and access barriers, self-efficacy, and attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines on the intention to receive COVID-19 vaccines. Simultaneously, the moderation effects of psychological distress on this relationship were also examined. Using a sample of 2722 Vietnamese adults and structural equation modeling (SEM), this study illustrated that self-efficacy and attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines were significantly interrelated with intention to receive COVID-19 vaccines. Self-efficacy, attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines, and intention to receive COVID-19 vaccines were negatively influenced by perceived access barriers but were positively associated with perceived clinical barriers. Importantly, our study reported that when psychological distress was higher, the link between self-efficacy and intention to receive COVID-19 vaccines will become weaker, but the effect of perceived clinical barriers on intention to receive COVID-19 vaccines will be reinforced. Moreover, self-efficacy and attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines served as mediators in the linkages between perceived barriers and intention to receive COVID-19 vaccines. Besides providing contributions to the extant COVID-19 vaccine literature, this study provides useful recommendations for practitioners and policymakers to foster adults’ COVID-19 vaccine acceptance.