Predicting people's decision to get vaccinated in times of Covid-19

3 1. BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW 5.1 Introduction Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, people's reluctance to receive safe and recommended vaccines, known as vaccine hesitancy, was already a growing concern (MacDonald, 2015). Specifically for the development of Covid-19 vaccines, differences in perception of benefits, interpretation of risks, positions in society (patient, doctor, health worker, politician, etc.), and presentations in the media have influenced differently both the thinking and the behavior of individuals (Montastruc et al., 2021). Recent studies show that if on the one hand the acceptance of the vaccine is mainly explained by the personal interest in protecting oneself against Covid-19, on the other hand, the vaccine hesitancy is mainly explained by concerns about side effects (Arce et al., 2021). Moreover, the calculation of risk and greater or lesser collective responsibility for vaccination decision-making is influenced by the level of public health of the place where you live. To give an example, most of the participants of a study conducted in Africa in 2020 would be vaccinated against Covid-19 if it were deemed safe and effective. As numerous infectious diseases cause thousands of deaths each year but are preventable with vaccines, the perception of the need and value of vaccines is increased. High-income countries, on the other hand, have successfully eradicated most vaccine-preventable diseases so they have not seen the devastating effects of these. As a result, this could lead to complacency, to altered risk calculations, and limited collective responsibility regarding vaccination decision-making (Machingaidze & Wiysonge, 2021). However, it is important to note that the intention to get vaccinated expressed during an interview with a participant may not always translate into the actual choice to get vaccinated (McEachan et al., 2011).