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a b s t r a c t
Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) has proposed a tool to measure behavioral and social
drivers (BeSD) of vaccination uptake intentions of people across all countries. This study tests BeSD model
to predict people’s intentions to uptake COVID-19 vaccination in rural India.
Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was developed for the purpose based on the components of
the BeSD model, i.e., confidence, motivation, and behavioral intention. A convenient sampling technique
was used to collect samples, amounting to a total of 625, from rural Bengaluru, in the Karnataka state of
India. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied to examine the proposed model. All respondents
for the survey were in the age category of 18–68 years with a mean age of 35 years.
Findings: The results showed that 85% of COVID-19 vaccine uptake intentions can directly or indirectly be
attributed to the government’s vaccine communication strategy, perceived threats about the vaccine, and
their trust in the healthcare sector. The dimensions of the vaccine acceptance scale (motivation factors)
act as a mediator between these factors and COVID-19 vaccination uptake (the behavioral factor).
Conclusion: The study demonstrates that the BeSD framework is an efficient model for predicting the
COVID-19 vaccination uptake in India.
Ó 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license