“They'll take a gun to me before I get that shot”: Rationalization, Emotions, and Misinformation in COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy

Vaccine hesitancy—the reluctance, delay, or refusal tovaccinate regardless of availability—is not a new concept inpsychology, medicine, or public health. However, given theemotions surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine, hesitancy hasproven difficult to overcome. To date, the bulk of availabledata on vaccine hesitancy are quantitative, leaving room forexploratory investigations into the reasons adults remainunvaccinated. This qualitative study assessed the moti-vations, beliefs, and perceptions of individuals who havedecided to remain unvaccinated against COVID-19. We hadone exploratory research question: What social psychological justifications emerge from vaccine hesitant people'sexplanations of their decisions to remain unvaccinated?To assess this question, we conducted 18 interviews withunvaccinated adults throughout 2021–2022. The interviewsconsisted of 20 questions regarding participants' percep-tions of the COVID-19 vaccine and their intentions to getvaccinated. Thematic analysis revealed four main themes inthe answers provided by participants: rationalization; identity, beliefs and potential modifiers; emotional responses; and information sources. These results offer insight forfuture vaccination efforts.