prosociality and social responsibility were associated with intention of covid-19 vaccination among university students in china

Background  coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) vaccination is expected to end the pandemic; a high coverage rate is required to meet this end. this study aimed to investigate the prevalence of behavioral intention of free/self-paid covid-19 vaccination and its associations with prosociality and social responsibility among university students in china. methods  an anonymous online cross-sectional survey was conducted among 6922 university students in five provinces in china during november 1-28, 2020. with informed consent, participants filled out an online survey link distributed to them via wechat study groups. the response rate was 72.3%.results  the prevalence of behavioral intentions of free covid-19 vaccination was 78.1%, but it dropped to 57.7% if the covid-19 vaccination involved self-payment (400 rmb; around 42 usd). after adjusting for background factors, prosociality (free vaccination: adjusted odds ratio [ora] = 1.10, 95% ci: 1.09-1.12; self-paid vaccination: ora = 1.08, 95% ci: 1.07-1.09) and social responsibility (free vaccination: ora = 1.17, 95% ci: 1.14-1.19; self-paid vaccination: ora = 1.13, 95% ci: 1.11-1.14) were positively associated with the two variables of covid-19 vaccination intention.conclusion  the present study demonstrated the positive effects of prosociality and social responsibility on the intention of covid-19 vaccination. accordingly, modification of prosociality and social responsibility can potentially improve covid-19 vaccination. future longitudinal and intervention studies are warranted to confirm such associations across populations and countries.