COVID-19 vaccination intention over the course of the pandemic: A repeated cross-sectional study

Vaccines are the most e#ective tools to prevent COVID-19 and combat the pandemic emergency. "us, it is essential to explore which psychological factors can in&uence the intention to get vaccinated and whether and how their impact change over the course of the pandemic. Using repeated cross-sectional surveys, this study investigated the eÊcy of an extended "eory of Planned Behavior model (TPB) in predicting vaccination intention in three di#erent stages: before (November 2020; N = 657), during (April 2021; N = 818), and a year later (February 2022; N = 605) the starting of the vaccination campaign in Italy. ANOVAs indicated signi$cant di#erences between the studies in all investigated variables (intention, a!itude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, anticipated a#ects, risk perception, trust in science, trust in government and religiosity), with a general trend of improvement in the mean scores of these variables between Studies 1 and 2, and a worsening in Study 3 compared to Studies 1 and 2. Additionally, SEM analysis showed no di#erences between the studies in most of the structural relationships investigated in the extended TPB model. Findings will be discussed with the aim of providing new useful information for promoting COVID-19 vaccination.