OBJECTIVES:

With more contagious variant, the herd immunity threshold (HIT) for Covid-19 went up an estimated 80%-90%. Since the vaccination coverage in many places remained much lower levels than estimated HIT, government faced a very complex decision of whether to impose vaccine mandates or use different approach to increase the vaccination coverage. Using self-determination theory, to assess attitudes toward Covid-19 vaccination mandates and the impact of the policies on vaccine uptake and future vaccination behavior.

METHODS: The study was online survey in New York. The data collection began on 8/23/2021 and ended 4/5/2022. 12 items from the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSNF) were adopted to the context of getting vaccinated. For each basic phycological need-autonomy, relatedness and competency- two questions were asked. Internal consistency is measured by Cronbach’s alpha. We conducted a linear regression with the six need ratings predicting people’s willingness to get vaccinated. We also conducted logistic regression with dichotomous intension to get vaccinated measure as the dependent variable.

RESULTS:

350 people attended the survey. 80% of the attendees were below 50 years old. 57% of them were female and 23 % of them had post graduate degrees, 70% of them had two doses of vaccination and 26% of them were not vaccinated and 4 % of them had a single dose. Cronbachs’s alpa was between 0.60-0.78. We found that autonomy frustration was associated with lower willingness to get vaccinated. (p<0.001) We also found that autonomy frustration, autonomy satisfaction and relatedness satisfaction were by far the strongest predictors of intentions to get vaccinated. (p<0.001)

CONCLUSIONS:

Control measures such as mandates may have detrimental effects on people’s autonomy, motivation, and willingness to get vaccinated. Supporting individuals’ autonomous motivation to get vaccinated and using messages of autonomy and relatedness increase vaccination rates.