The development and validation of a three-dimensional COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy scale

Despite the availability of Covid-19 vaccines for the general population since the first months of 2021, vaccine hesitancy is widespread. In this context, a validated tool for properly assessing vaccine hesitancy is essential. The complexity, the dynamic and context-specific nature of the phenomenon guided the development of a multidimensional tool to assess Covid-19 vaccination hesitancy, as at the onset of the fourth wave of Covid-19 literature still lacks specific instruments for assessing the phenomena in its complexity. The aim of the study was to preliminary validate the Multidimensional Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Scale, a new self-report measure for the assessment of beliefs and attitudes beneath vaccination hesitancy and barriers for vaccine uptake / reasons for vaccine refusal in the context of Covid-19.