Who are the Unvaccinated? Determinants of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccinations among Older Adults across Europe
With the arrival of effective COVID-19 vaccines, the fight against the ongoing global pandemic entered a new
stage. The question shifted towards how to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible. Understanding
the reasons people choose to get vaccinated or not is integral in informing immunization campaigns. But who
are the unvaccinated? This is determined by using cross-national data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and
Retirement in Europe (SHARE). We investigate the interrelation of the (un)willingness to be vaccinated with
social and health aspects as well as the economic situation of our sample of adults in Europe, aged 50 and above.
We find that respondents’ economic situation as well as diagnosed physical illnesses and education show the
strongest relation to vaccination hesitancy. Our results provide a comprehensive picture of influential factors
of older adults’ vaccination behaviour that can advance the success of the immunisation campaigns in Europe.