Vaccination against COVID-19 in Europe: A Typology Based on Cluster Analysis

Abstract

This study aims to identify a general typology for the EU27, and subsequently in Romania, regarding the hesitation, acceptance and refusal of vaccination against COVID-19. The analysis we propose below is based on the information contained in Eurobarometer 94.3, the data of which were collected at the beginning of most of the national vaccination campaigns in Europe. Based on the attitudes and opinions expressed by the respondents of the European states (EU27), we constructed with the help of the cluster k-means (SPSS) statistical analysis a typology with four categories on the subject of vaccination against COVID-19. Our study proposes a matrix with five items/scenarios on a scale from total agreement to total disagreement. We chose a typology with four attitudinal types (clusters). We subsequently compared the results of the general European analysis with the cluster typology resulting from the same Eurobarometer, the same set of questions, only for the case of Romania, to see if this analysis sheds a specific light on the fact that Romania had a very low vaccination rate compared to other EU Member States.