Pressured or Voluntary? Motivations for Vaccination during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Future Health-Protective Behaviors

Andrea Pittarello, Hagai Rabinovitch, Enrico Rubaltelli, Paul Slovic and Tehila Kogut
Additional contact information
Andrea Pittarello: Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
Hagai Rabinovitch: University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Enrico Rubaltelli: University of Padova, Padua, Veneto, Italy
Paul Slovic: Oregon Research Institute, Eugene, OR, USA
Tehila Kogut: Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Southern, Israel

Medical Decision Making, 2026, vol. 46, issue 4, 421-431

Abstract: Purpose This research investigates how individuals’ perceived motivations for receiving the COVID-19 vaccine—specifically, feeling pressured versus vaccinating voluntarily—relate to future health-protective behaviors and perceived risk of the vaccine and the virus. Methods In 2 studies, with a total of N  = 1,252 respondents, participants self-reported their past vaccination motivation and completed measures assessing willingness to receive future vaccines, engage in general health-protective behaviors, and perceived risks associated with the virus and the vaccine. Results Findings consistently show that individuals who felt pressured to vaccinate are positioned between unvaccinated individuals and those who vaccinated voluntarily in their perceptions and intentions. Compared with voluntary vaccinators, they reported lower willingness to receive future vaccines and engage in protective behaviors and greater perceived vaccine risk. However, their willingness to engage in these behaviors was still greater than that of unvaccinated individuals. Limitations The studies are mainly cross-sectional and do not track the same individuals over time. Conclusions Perceived motivation for past vaccination significantly predicts vaccinated individuals’ attitudes and future intentions related to health behaviors, even unrelated to COVID-19. Implications Treating all vaccinated individuals as a uniform group can be overly simplistic. Public health messaging and interventions may be more effective when considering individuals’ vaccination motivation. Highlights Treating all vaccinated individuals the same can be simplistic. The perception of the vaccine and virus risks differ depending on whether vaccination felt voluntary or coerced. Different motivations behind vaccination can shape future medical decisions beyond the pandemic.

Keywords: medical decision making; motivation; preventive behaviors; risk perceptions; vaccinations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0272989X251408848 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:medema:v:46:y:2026:i:4:p:421-431

DOI: 10.1177/0272989X251408848

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Medical Decision Making
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().