Are Fear of COVID-19 and Vaccine Hesitancy Associated with COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake? A Population-Based Online Survey in Nigeria

How to increase acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine among poor people in Africa?

This study aims to analyze whether good government management of the COVID-19 pandemic can increase the likelihood of vaccine uptake among poor people in Africa. The analysis is based on a sample of 18,010 people living in 34 African countries, drawn from data collected by Afrobarometer (Merged Round 8 data (34 countries), database, 2022). The econometric results, obtained using a bivariate probit regression, show that poverty significantly reduces the odds of accepting the said COVID-19 vaccine. However, acceptance of the vaccine increases among poor individuals when there is (i) trust in the government's published statistics on COVID-19, (ii) control of corruption by the government in managing the pandemic, (iii) individual confidence in the government's ability to ensure the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine, and (iv) belief that the Covid 19 vaccine will be more effective than religious prayer in the fight against this pandemic.

Exploring the Big Data Paradox for various estimands using vaccination data from the global COVID-19 Trends and Impact Survey (CTIS)

Selection bias poses a substantial challenge to valid statistical inference in nonprobability samples. This study compared estimates of the first-dose COVID-19 vaccination rates among Indian adults in 2021 from a large nonprobability sample, the COVID-19 Trends and Impact Survey (CTIS), and a small probability survey, the Center for Voting Options and Trends in Election Research (CVoter), against national benchmark data from the COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network. Notably, CTIS exhibits a larger estimation error on average (0.37) compared to CVoter (0.14). Additionally, we explored the accuracy (regarding mean squared error) of CTIS in estimating successive differences (over time) and subgroup differences (for females versus males) in mean vaccine uptakes. Compared to the overall vaccination rates, targeting these alternative estimands comparing differences or relative differences in two means increased the effective sample size. These results suggest that the Big Data Paradox can manifest in countries beyond the United States and may not apply equally to every estimand of interest.

Differences in COVID-19 Vaccination and Experiences among Patients with Hypertension in Colombia and Jamaica during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background

COVID-19 vaccination and shielding targeted hypertensive patients in low and middle income countries. We describe the COVID-19 experiences of hypertensive patients in Colombia and Jamaica and discuss factors associated with vaccine acceptance.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted between December 2021 and February 2022 in 4 randomly selected primary care clinics in Colombia and 10 primary care clinics in Jamaica. Participants in Colombia were randomly selected from an electronic medical record. In Jamaica consecutive participants were selected on clinic days for non-communicable diseases. Interviewer-administered questionnaires were conducted by telephone.

Results

576 participants were recruited (50% Jamaica; 68.5% female). Jamaica's participants were younger (36% vs 23% <60 years) and had a lower proportion of persons with "more than high school" education (17.2% vs 30.3%, p=0.011). Colombia's participants more commonly tested positive for COVID-19 (24.2% vs 6.3%, p<0.001), had a family member or close friend test positive for COVID-19 (54.5% vs, 21.6%; p<0.001), experienced loss of a family member or friend due to COVID-19 (21.5% vs 7.8%, p<0.001) and had vaccination against COVID-19 (90.6% vs 46.7%, p<0.001). Fear of COVID-19 (AOR 2.71, 95% CI 1.20-6.13) and residence in Colombia (AOR 5.88 (95% CI 2.38-14.56) were associated with COVID-19 vaccination. Disruption in health services affecting prescription of medication or access to doctors was low (<10%) for both countries.

Conclusion

Health services disruption was low but COVID-19 experiences such as fear of COVID-19 and vaccine acceptance differed significantly between Colombia and Jamaica. Addressing reasons for these differences are important for future pandemic responses.

Vaccine conspiracy association with higher COVID-19 vaccination side effects and negative attitude towards booster COVID-19, influenza and monkeypox vaccines: A pilot study in Saudi Universities

Conspiracies regarding vaccines are widely prevalent, with negative consequences on health-seeking behaviors. The current study aimed to investigate the possible association between the embrace of vaccine conspiracies and the attitude to booster COVID-19, seasonal influenza, and monkeypox (mpox) vaccinations as well as the perceived side effects following COVID-19 vaccination. The target population involved academic staff and university students in health colleges in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed in January 2023 to collect data on participants' demographics, self-reported side effects following each dose, willingness to get booster COVID-19, seasonal influenza, and mpox vaccinations, as well as an evaluation of vaccine conspiracies and attitude to mandatory vaccination. Among the 273 participants, the willingness to receive yearly booster COVID-19 vaccination was observed among 26.0% of the participants, while it was 46.9% and 34.1% for seasonal influenza and mpox vaccinations, respectively. Multinomial logistic regression analyses demonstrated a significant correlation between endorsing vaccine conspiracies and higher frequency of self-reported side effects following uptake of the second and third doses of COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccine conspiracies were also correlated with attitude toward booster COVID-19, influenza, mpox, and mandatory vaccination. The findings of this pilot study highlighted the potential adverse impact of the preexisting notions and negative attitudes toward vaccines, which could have contributed to heightened perceived side effects following COVID-19 vaccination. The study also highlighted the ongoing divisions concerning mandatory vaccination policies, emphasizing the need for cautious implementation of this strategy as a last resort for public health benefit.

Barriers and Motivators toward Childhood COVID-19 Vaccination: A Cross-Sectional Study Conducted among Saudi Population

Background and Objectives: In 2020, one of the most important steps that were made was to give priority to the development of a COVID-19 vaccine to prevent the rising incidence of COVID-19 from continuing to rise. However, globally, there is a variable acceptance of the level of the COVID-19 vaccine. This study aims to explore Saudi parents' willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study; the online questionnaire was used to investigate the views of Saudi parents with children aged under 18 toward the immunization of their children against COVID-19. The data were gathered from 10 May 2022 to 31 October 2022. The data analysis uses SPSS version 20. A p-value of 0.05 or lower was regarded as statistically significant. Results: A total of 978 Saudi parents participated in this study. Most of the respondents were from the age group of 36-45 years with the educational qualification of high school and bachelor's degree. Overall, it was observed that the majority, 98.2% of the respondents, disclosed that they needed more information (p = 0.004) about COVID-19 vaccine safety among children so that they could decide whether to vaccinate their child. About 91.4% of parents mention that vaccination against COVID-19 is not necessary for children (p = 0.001). About 68.3% of respondents agreed that getting vaccinated against COVID-19 could help Saudi Arabia control COVID-19 (p = 0.007, RI = 0.76). In terms of negative attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination, 71.3% think that there will be severe side effects (p = 0.019, RI = 0.75); 67.7% think that the vaccine's protection will only last for a short time (p = 0.055, RI = 0.72); 80.1% said they were afraid of getting vaccinated because of needle fear (p = 0.045, RI = 0.76), and 41.2% said lack of time was the main barrier to not vaccinating their child. Conclusions: Parents expressed concerns regarding the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine, which might be some of the main factors influencing their decision to vaccinate their children. It is the need of the hour to take action to communicate, educate, and intervene with Saudi parents to enhance COVID-19 vaccination compliance rates across the board.

Analysis of individual characteristics influencing user polarization in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy

During the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine hesitancy proved to be a major obstacle in efforts to control and mitigate the negative consequences of COVID-19. This study centered on the degree of polarization on social media about vaccine use and contributing factors to vaccine hesitancy among social media users. Examining the discussion about COVID-19 vaccine on the Weibo platform, a relatively comprehensive system of user features was constructed based on psychological theories and models such as the curiosity-drive theory and the big five model of personality. Then machine learning methods were used to explore the paramount impacting factors that led users into polarization. Findings revealed that factors reflecting the activity and effectiveness of social media use promoted user polarization. In contrast, features reflecting users' information processing ability and personal qualities had a negative impact on polarization. This study hopes to help healthcare organizations and governments understand and curb social media polarization around vaccine development in the face of future surges of pandemics.

Factors Influencing the Intention and Uptake of COVID-19 Vaccines on the African Continent: A Scoping Review

The COVID-19 pandemic is a severe concern worldwide, particularly in Africa. Vaccines are crucial in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. This scoping review examined existing literature from 2020 to 2022 on individual, interpersonal, and structural barriers and facilitators to COVID-19 vaccination within Africa to facilitate more informed health promotion interventions to improve vaccine uptake. This review was conducted using Arksey and O'Malley's five-stage methodological framework. A comprehensive search was undertaken from 2021 to 2022 using six electronic databases: EBSCOhost, PubMed, Web of Science, ProQuest, WorldCat Discovery, and Google Scholar. Data was collected, charted into themes, and summarized using a standard data extraction sheet in Microsoft Excel. A total of forty (n = 40) published academic articles were reviewed, with many conducted in Nigeria (n = 10), followed by Ethiopia (n = 5) and Ghana (n = 4) and the rest elsewhere in Africa. Thematic narratives were used to report data into six themes: attitudes and perceptions about COVID-19 vaccines, intention to uptake COVID-19 vaccines; factors and barriers associated with COVID-19 vaccine uptake; socio-demographic determinants affecting the intention and uptake; and information sources for COVID-19 vaccines. The intention for uptake ranged from 25% to 80.9%, resulting in a suboptimal uptake intention rate (54.2%) on the African continent. Factors that promoted vaccine acceptance included confidence in the COVID-19 vaccines and the desire to protect people. Age, education, and gender were the most common factors significantly associated with vaccine acceptance. Most studies revealed that considerable barriers to vaccine uptake exist in Africa. Concerns about potential side effects, vaccine ineffectiveness, a perceived lack of information, and inaccessibility were among the individual, interpersonal, and structural barriers to COVID-19 vaccine uptake. The unwillingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine was strongly correlated with being female. Mass and social media were the main sources of information regarding COVID-19 vaccines. To encourage vaccine uptake, governments should pay attention to refuting misinformation through integrated community-based approaches, such as creating messages that convey more than just information.

Why I Have Not Taken the COVID-19 Vaccine" a Descriptive Qualitative Study of Older Adults' Perceived Views of COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake in Nigeria

Globally, the COVID-19 vaccine uptake is increasing, but slowly among older adults residing in lower and middle-income countries, including Nigeria. Following this, we explored the perceived views of older adults on the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine in Nigeria. We adopted a qualitative descriptive study design and purposively selected and interviewed 16 retirees of older adults. Data were analyzed using conventional content analysis. Findings show that older adults' willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine was dissuaded by their past experiences with the government, religion, and Western media, including affordability and accessibility problems related to vaccination campaigns. Findings also show that the uncertainty about the COVID-19 virus existence and perceptions about COVID-19 vaccine risks influence older adults' decisions regarding vaccine uptake. Finally, older adults' views on getting vaccinated for COVID-19 were positively influenced by the trust they placed in their physicians and other members of their healthcare system. The government should incentivize healthcare workers to serve as a nudge to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake among older adults in Nigeria.