Acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination at different hypothetical efficacy and safety levels in Nigeria

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Vaccination efforts against the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may be hampered by vaccine hesitancy. This study assessed the acceptance rate of COVID-19 vaccination at different hypothetical efficacy and safety levels in Nigeria. METHODS: This web-based study was conducted among a selected Nigerian population between the month of February and May, 2021 using an online self-administered structured questionnaire hosted by Survey Monkey. WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook were used to disseminate the invitation to take the poll. Data collected were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences Version 25 with level of significance set at P<0.05. RESULT: The finding of this study revealed that a larger proportion of the participants were males (53.9%), within the age group of 31-40 years (25.6%), and earn an average income of less than $500 per month. Individuals between the ages of 21 and 30 years and 31 to 40 years showed the highest levels of acceptability for the COVID-19 vaccine at 95% efficacy and 5% adverse effects. Older age group (>51 years and above) had the least vaccine acceptance rate (3.3%) at 75% vaccine efficacy and 20% side effect. Respondents who held the belief that vaccinations are essential for their health had higher chance to accept COVID-19 vaccine with OR: 0.76; 50%CI (0.00-0.00), OR: 6.31; 95%CI (0.000-0.000), OR: 1.23; 95%CI (0.193-7.860) and OR: 0.696; 95%CI (0.048-10.047) based on religion, occurrence of diabetes, Pulmonary disease and Hypertension, respectively. CONCLUSION: The results of this research indicate that vaccine acceptance rates are negatively correlated with participants' ages.