Primary Factors Influencing the Decision to Vaccinate Against COVID-19 in the United States: A Predictive Analytics Approach (Preprint)
BACKGROUND Vaccine refusal still poses a risk to reaching herd immunity in the United States. The existing literature focuses on identifying the predictors that would impact the willingness to accept (WTA) vaccines using survey data. These variables range from the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants to the perceptions and attitudes towards the vaccines so each variable’s statistical relationship with the WTA a vaccine can be investigated. However, while the results of these studies may have important implications for understanding vaccine hesitancy by offering interpretation of the statistical relationships, the prediction of vaccine decision-making has rarely been investigated OBJECTIVE We aimed to identify the factors that contribute to the prediction of COVID-19 vaccine acceptors and refusers using machine learning METHODS A nationwide survey was administered online in November, 2020 to assess American public perceptions and attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines. Seven machine learning techniques were utilized to identify the model with the highest predictive power. Moreover, a set of variables that would contribute the most to the predictions of vaccine acceptors and refusers was identified using Gini importance based on Random Forest structure RESULTS The resulting machine learning algorithm has better prediction ability for willingness to accept (82%) versus reject (51%) a COVID-19 vaccine. In terms of predictive success, the Random Forest model outperformed the other machine learning techniques with a 69.52% accuracy rate. Worrying about (re) contracting Covid 19 and opinions regarding mandatory face covering were identified as the most important predictors of vaccine decision-making CONCLUSIONS The complexity of vaccine hesitancy needs to be investigated thoroughly before the threshold needed to reach population immunity can be achieved. Predictive analytics can help the public health officials design and deliver individually tailored vaccination programs that would increase the overall vaccine uptake.