Attitudes toward annual COVID-19 vaccination

COVID-19 continues to pose a challenge to public health even after the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency in 2023. The government continues to encourage people to receive COVID-19 vaccination regularly and annual COVID-19 vaccination might become policy. Due to the sensitive nature of COVID-19 vaccination, some people might be reluctant to receive these vaccines regularly. In this exploratory study, we investigated popular attitudes toward receiving COVID-19 vaccination annually. In March 2023, we administered an original survey of registered voters in South Dakota. We measured the likelihood of COVID-19 vaccination annually, COVID-19 vaccination status, trust in government, partisan self-identification, and various demographic variables. We utilized structural equation modeling to analyze the data. We received 747 responses, and 53% of participants were likely to receive COVID-19 vaccination annually. We found that people who already received a COVID-19 vaccination, older adults, people with higher trust in government, and self-identified Democrats were more likely to receive annual COVID-19 vaccination. The findings can help public health officials craft communication strategies to boost the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines.