COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: Pakistan struggles to vaccinate its way out of the pandemic

Mehmood, Qasim; Ullah, Irfan; Hasan, Mohammad Mehedi; Kazmi, Syeda Kanza; Ahmadi, Attaullah; Lucero‐Prisno, Don Eliseo

doi:10.1177/25151355221077658

Cited by 20 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…In Pakistan, various efforts are being made at different levels to raise awareness about the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine, these include radio messages and large-scale video transmissions on TV and the internet providing the necessary adequate knowledge about vaccines and empowering the general public to accept the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as door-to-door vaccine administration and awareness drives similar to those used for Polio ( 33 ). Meanwhile, the government in India is not making any significant efforts to combat vaccine hesitancy; nevertheless, a “time-bound inquiry” into deaths that occurred soon after vaccination was ordered, and each mobile phone call in the country was automatically initiated by a national programmed message from the Indian government affirming the safety and effectiveness of vaccines ( 34 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fear of the vaccine's safety and efficacy, potential ill effects, lack of faith in vaccine-development institutions, and concern that the vaccination might cause autism, infertility, autoimmune diseases, and death are all factors impacting public adoption of the COVID-19 vaccine. As a result, Pakistan urgently needs to establish a stronger healthcare system to curb viral transmission ( 33 , 41 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: A narrative review of four South Asian countries

Ennab

Qabsa

Uday

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

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ObjectivesVaccine hesitancy remains a global issue, especially within poverty-stricken countries where there's an interplay of financial and non-financial barriers. This narrative review aims to understand attitudes and behaviors toward COVID-19 vaccination in four South Asian countries and make context-specific recommendations to vaccine program drivers and decision-makers.MethodsA search was conducted using PubMed and Science Direct, and CINHAL from January 2020 up to May 2022 restricted to the English language for terms: “Afghanistan” OR “Pakistan” OR “India” OR “Bangladesh” in combination with “COVID-19 vaccine” and other related terms. All articles were initially included, and those with relevance were included in the synthesis of this paper.ResultsA narrative review was performed for this study. Our narrative review included a total of eighteen studies with a sample size (n = 223–5,237) averaging about 1,325 participants per study conducted. The studies included revealed public hesitancy to receive the COVID-19 vaccine ranging from 6.3 to 56.2% with an average of 31.63% across all eighteen studies. Several reasons were linked to this observation in these four South Asian countries, and the predominant ones included: Insufficient information provided to the general public about the side effects of the vaccines, concerns regarding vaccine safety, and skepticism of vaccine efficacy.ConclusionVaccine hesitancy is a global problem within the context of COVID-19, and issues regarding equity, misinformation, and poverty in South Asian countries makes it difficult to meet goals for herd immunity. Policymakers and governments should aim toward financial and non-financial incentives to drive the public toward vaccination.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: A narrative review of four South Asian countries

Ennab

Qabsa

Uday

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Regarding the acceptance of the vaccine, there were several influencing factors, such as a prior negative experience in receiving a vaccine, lack of information about vaccine complications, and individual perception of the risk of the disease. Mehmood 42 reported that the main reasons for accepting COVID-19 vaccines were that people did not believe in vaccine safety, effectiveness, and unclear severity of the side effects.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acceptance and accessibility to the early phase COVID-19 vaccination among the healthcare workers and hill tribe population in Thailand

Wongnuch

Mulikaburt

Apidechkul

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a serious emerging disease and an extreme threat to human life. This study aimed to understand the perceptions of hill tribe people living in the border areas of Thailand-Myanmar and health workers regarding the acceptability and accessibility of the COVID-19 vaccine and health workers’ perceptions of the readiness to implement the vaccination program during the early period of national COVID-19 vaccination. A qualitative method was applied to elicit information from key informants who lived in hill tribe villages and the health professionals who served them. The study was conducted in seven hill tribe villages located along the Thailand-Myanmar borders in Mae Fah Luang District, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. The participants were hill tribe villagers aged 20 years and over; public health care professionals working in village health centers who had primary roles in implementing disease prevention and control measures; and public health care professionals working in districts and provincial public health offices who had primary roles in policy development and implementation. A total of 63 participants (26 men and 37 women) from seven hill tribe villages provided information. Three acceptance choices regarding receiving the COVID-19 vaccine were found among the hill tribes: definite acceptance, likely acceptance, and no preference. Two factors related to obtaining access to the new COVID-19 vaccine were found: Thai citizenship and the level of literacy related to the vaccine. There was no process or protocol in place for implementing the new vaccine among health professionals working at the district, subdistrict, or community levels, but the national expanded immunization program (EPI) system was clearly demonstrated to extend throughout the health service chain in Thailand. During the early period of national COVID-19 vaccine implantation in Thailand, not all members of the hill tribes accepted the vaccine; participant acceptance depended on several factors, including a participant’s previous experience with vaccination, whether he or she required more information before making a decision, etc. While acceptance of the vaccine depended on the individual’s background, not everyone had an equal opportunity to access the vaccine. The new COVID-19 vaccine should be available at the village level, including in hill tribe villages, to reduce the systemic threat to the country.

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“…The COVID-19 pandemic has not helped the polio situation in Pakistan either [ [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] ] and has instead made polio vaccination drives harder than usual owing to the inability of healthcare workers to travel to rural areas amidst imposed lockdowns which might explain the post-COVID surge in polio cases [ 10 ]. The cherry on top is the distrust that most people in rural areas harbor towards healthcare workers which contributes to their reluctance to get their children the vaccine.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%