COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinics in Pakistan: A Multicentric, Prospective, Survey-Based Study

Mustafa, Zia Ul; Bashir, Shazma; Shahid, Arfah; Raees, Iqra; Salman, Muhammad; Merchant, Hamid A.; Aldeyab, Mamoon A.; Kow, Chia Siang; Hasan, Syed Shahzad

doi:10.3390/v14112344

Cited by 10 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 79 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Consequently, the coronavirus outbreak has highlighted the necessity for addressing the gender disparity in vaccine aversion, which has mostly been disregarded, except for pregnant cases. Conforming to an investigation on sexual differences in vaccine hesitancy, men were reported more inclined to undergo coronavirus vaccines ( 41 , 42 ). A research investigation conducted on six hundred and seventy-two study participants exhibited a ratio of 67% to the corona vaccination acceptability overall whereas elderly, males, Asians, and graduates were more inclined toward getting vaccinated when compared to their peers ( 43 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 vaccine reluctance and possible driving factors: A comparative assessment among pregnant and non-pregnant women

Rehman

Akhlaq

et al. 2023

Front. Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) constitutes a serious threat to pregnant women. One of the key strategies for preventing and managing the COVID-19 epidemic is vaccination. Herd immunity is significantly hampered by COVID-19 vaccine reluctance, which poses a potential threat to population health. Therefore, the present work intends to ascertain the incidence and severity of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Pakistani pregnant women, the determinants driving their decision, and a comparative assessment with non-pregnant participants. This cross-sectional survey was carried out from November 2021 to February 2022. The validated vaccination attitude examination (VAX) scale about vaccination reluctance was undertaken by participants, who were also required to indicate whether they would be inclined to acquire the COVID-19 vaccine along with the reasons for reluctance. In comparison to the non-pregnant category with 353 participants, the group of 372 pregnant participants who responded to the questionnaire had a much greater proportion of hesitant respondents. Likewise, contrasted to 31% of non-pregnant participants, about 40% of them attributed their willingness to get vaccinated against coronavirus to social media. They also demonstrated a considerably stronger mean score on all subcategories of the VAX measure. The adjusted odd ratio findings showed that the independent factors for vaccine reluctance appeared to be trusting rumors on social media (adj OR: 2.58), not being afraid of covid-19 (adj OR: 2.01), not believing in COVID-19 existence (adj OR: 2.53), and not believing in vaccines (adj OR: 4.25). Uncertainty about the COVID-19 vaccine is very prevalent among expectant mothers. The investigation accentuates the pressing need to administer COVID-19 vaccination to the general public, including expectant mothers who might be anxious about the vaccine.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 vaccine reluctance and possible driving factors: A comparative assessment among pregnant and non-pregnant women

Rehman

Akhlaq

et al. 2023

Front. Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Our study also revealed more than 37% of the study population was hesitant towards COVID-19 vaccination, with only a limited percentage of unvaccinated patients showing a willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. This is a concern despite levels of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy being quite similar across many LMICs including Pakistan [ 79 , 80 , 91 ]. As far as the factors associated with hesitancy towards the COVID-19 vaccines are concerned, our study revealed that three-quarters of the hesitant population stated that COVID-19 is not a real problem, followed by COVID-19 vaccines being considered a conspiracy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The study questionnaire ( Supplementary Material S1 ) was developed from previous surveys conducted by the co-authors on a similar topic and after receiving permission from the corresponding authors to use the questionnaire as a basis for this study [ 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 ]. The content validity of the questionnaire was assessed by a 7-member team comprising medical doctors and pharmacists.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 Vaccines Status, Acceptance and Hesitancy among Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study and the Implications for Pakistan and Beyond

Amjad¹,

Maryam

Munir

et al. 2023

Vaccines

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy continues to be a widespread problem in Pakistan due to various conspiracy beliefs, myths and misconceptions. Since the hemodialysis population is at a higher risk of contracting infections, we sought to investigate the current COVID-19 immunization status and reasons for any vaccine hesitancy among these patients in Pakistan. This cross-sectional study was conducted among maintenance hemodialysis patients at six hospitals in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. Data were collected anonymously using a questionnaire. A total of 399 hemodialysis patients took part in the survey, the majority of them were male (56%) and aged 45–64 years. A calculated 62.4% of the patients reported receiving at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Of those vaccinated (249), 73.5% had received two doses and 16.9% had received a booster dose. The most common reasons for vaccination were “being aware they were at high risk” (89.6%), “fear of getting infected” (89.2%) and “willingness to fight against COVID-19-pandemic” (83.9%). Of the 150 patients who had not yet been vaccinated, only 10 showed a willingness to take the COVID-19 vaccine. The major reasons for refusal included “COVID-19 is not a real problem” (75%), the “corona vaccine is a conspiracy (72.1%)” and “I don’t need the vaccine” (60.7%). Our study revealed that only 62% patients receiving hemodialysis were partially or completely vaccinated against COVID-19. Consequently, there is a need to initiate aggressive approaches to educate this high-risk population in order to address their concerns with vaccine safety and efficacy as well as correct current myths and misconceptions to improve the COVID-19 immunization status in this population.

show abstract

“…Until now, several studies investigated the determinants of COVID-19 vaccine uptake among pregnant women [ 29 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ]. So far, research has focused on the impact of the socio-demographic characteristics on the decision of pregnant women to be vaccinated against COVID-19, e.g., age, ethnicity, race, education, and income.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychosocial Predictors of COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake among Pregnant Women: A Cross-Sectional Study in Greece

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

An understanding of the factors associated with the COVID-19 vaccine uptake in pregnant women is paramount to persuade women to get vaccinated against COVID-19. We estimated the vaccination rate of pregnant women against COVID-19 and evaluated psychosocial factors associated with vaccine uptake among them. We conducted a cross-sectional study with a convenience sample. In particular, we investigated socio-demographic data of pregnant women (e.g., age, marital status, and educational level), COVID-19 related variables (e.g., previous COVID-19 diagnosis and worry about the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines), and stress due to COVID-19 (e.g., danger and contamination fears, fears about economic consequences, xenophobia, compulsive checking and reassurance seeking, and traumatic stress symptoms about COVID-19) as possible predictors of COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Among pregnant women, 58.6% had received a COVID-19 vaccine. The most important reasons that pregnant women were not vaccinated were doubts about the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines (31.4%), fear that COVID-19 vaccines could be harmful to the fetus (29.4%), and fear of adverse side effects of COVID-19 vaccines (29.4%). Increased danger and contamination fears, increased fears about economic consequences, and higher levels of trust in COVID-19 vaccines were related with vaccine uptake. On the other hand, increased compulsive checking and reassurance seeking and increased worry about the adverse side effects of COVID-19 vaccines reduced the likelihood of pregnant women being vaccinated. An understanding of the psychosocial factors associated with increased COVID-19 vaccine uptake in pregnant women could be helpful for policy makers and healthcare professionals in their efforts to persuade women to get vaccinated against COVID-19. There is a need for targeted educational campaigns to increase knowledge about COVID-19 vaccines and reduce vaccine hesitancy in pregnancy.

show abstract

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinics in Pakistan: A Multicentric, Prospective, Survey-Based Study

Cited by 10 publications

References 79 publications

COVID-19 vaccine reluctance and possible driving factors: A comparative assessment among pregnant and non-pregnant women

COVID-19 vaccine reluctance and possible driving factors: A comparative assessment among pregnant and non-pregnant women

COVID-19 Vaccines Status, Acceptance and Hesitancy among Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study and the Implications for Pakistan and Beyond

Psychosocial Predictors of COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake among Pregnant Women: A Cross-Sectional Study in Greece

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About