Constructed Recognition: How Nationalism Influences Public Acceptance of Domestic COVID-19 Vaccines in China

Background: Despite numbers of vaccine scandals and the potential side effects, COVID-19 vaccines have gained widespread acceptance in China shortly after approved by National Medical Products Administration. The purpose of the study was to explain why support of vaccines is so high in China. Methods: Based on existing literature, we proposed three possible motivating factors for respondents' perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines: individuals' risk perception of the disease, the sense of altruism and the nationalistic ideology. Drawing on data from a survey conducted in May of 2021, we examined the three hypotheses by using ordered logit models. Moreover, we explored how individuals' trust in scientists influences their acceptance of domestic COVID-19 vaccines and discussed the relationship between nationalism and the trust in scientists. Results: 2038 participants completed our questionnaire online (females=48.72%). We found that respondents' risk perception and sense of altruism can partially explain public's positive opinions on COVID-19 vaccines. The main finding of this paper is that the nationalism is the important source of the trust in the new vaccines, since the Chinese government has repeatedly emphasized the relevance of the COVID-19 vaccines to the national interests. Trust in Chinese scientists is the dominating factor to inspire public's acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines in China, which can also be considered as a derivative of nationalism, for the reputations of the medical experts are deliberately constructed by the government during the epidemic. Conclusion: Though the information of COVID-19 vaccines is lack of transparency and not accessible to the public, Chinese people still highly trust in the quality of the vaccines. Our research finds that the high recognition of the newly developed vaccines is a product of the nationalistic ideology and deliberately constructed by the Chinese government during the epidemic.