Acceptance of the COVID-19 Vaccine by Foreigners in South Korea

Vaccination against COVID-19 is an important strategy for its control. Assessing the willingness to accept the COVID-19 vaccine in different subgroups is important for an inclusive vaccination program design. Our aim was to determine the COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rate and associated factors among foreigners in South Korea. An online cross-sectional study was carried out from May to June 2021. In this study, 710 individuals participated and most were aged between 26 and 29 (36.1%) years. Overall, 70.8% were willing to receive the vaccine. Males were less likely to accept the vaccine than females (OR: 0.5; 95% CI: 0.4-0.7, p < 0.001). Single people were more likely to receive the vaccine than those who were married (OR: 1.4; 95% CI: 0.9-2.0, p = 0.04). Other factors associated with willingness to accept COVID-19 vaccine were; vaccine convenience (OR: 1.7; 95% CI: 1.2-2.3, p = 0.002), doctors' recommendation (OR: 2.8; 95% CI: 2.0-3.9, p < 0.001), vaccine price (OR: 1.7; 95% CI: 1.2-2.3, p = 0.003), vaccine effectiveness (OR: 8.3; 95% CI: 5.8-12.1, p < 0.001), vaccine importance (OR: 7.9; 95% CI: 4.6-14.1, p < 0.001), and vaccine safety (OR: 6.9; 95% CI: 4.5-10.8, p < 0.001). Providing more information on vaccine safety and effectiveness is required to increase vaccine acceptance.