Predictors of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Chad: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Vaccination against the COVID-19 virus is currently the best option to combat the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic worldwide. However, in addition to logistical and economic barriers, hesitancy to be vaccinated threatens to jeopardize efforts to contain the disease. An increasing number of people in Africa are delaying or rejecting recommended vaccines. Since their launch, COVID-19 vaccines have frequently faced rejection worldwide. In this study, we interviewed 5,174 participants from Chad that were representative of the general population, on their perception of COVID-19 vaccines. The survey was conducted from April to May 2021, before the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination. We found that 47.9% of respondents were willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, 29.8% were undecided and 22.3% would not accept the vaccine. We found that urban residents were much more likely to refuse the vaccine than rural residents. We also observed that distrust of COVID-19 vaccines and mistaken beliefs played a crucial role in the reluctance to be vaccinated. Hesitancy to vaccinate against COVID-19 was strongly associated with lack of knowledge, and acceptance of vaccination was primarily associated with fear of the disease. Finally, we identified population profiles among the undecided and the refractors, which will help in developing strategies to combat COVID-19 vaccine resistance.

Correlates of COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance and Hesitancy in Rural Communities in Western Kenya

“…This was costly in relation to building trust for scientific as well as professional information in the general population. Vaccine hesitancy continues to garner interest among researchers, policy makers, government leaders, and other stakeholders [61][62][63][64], especially now that the pandemic phase has passed and efforts to sustain prevention and deal with any new infection surges are likely to wane with time. Many lessons have been learned through this pandemic.…”

Vaccinating without complete willingness against COVID‐19: Personal and social aspects of Israeli nursing students and faculty members

“…Therefore, the reported low vaccination rates were perceived as a major threat to the general effort to combat the pandemic and a risk to public health (WHO, 2019). Vaccine refusal rates among the eligible adult population were relatively high all over the world (WHO, 2023) but varied greatly among different countries and regions (Frankenthal et al, 2022;Gori et al, 2023;Khubchandani et al, 2022;Rego et al, 2023;Song & Lee, 2023;Takoudjou Dzomo et al, 2023). For example, an Israeli study, which included nearly 3000 households (1827 Jews and 1171 Arabs) revealed that 16.3% of the sample population hesitated/refused to get vaccinated despite the availability of the vaccine to them (Frankenthal et al, 2022).…”

“…The WHO, local health authorities, and the vast majority of professional healthcare workers worldwide strongly advocated and promoted vaccination as the most useful method to combat the pandemic (Fauci et al, 2020; WHO, 2020; Yamey et al, 2020). Despite the apparent safety and efficacy of the vaccine (Bar‐On et al, 2021; Dagan et al, 2021), a high percentage of people from all over the world did not get vaccinated until the present day, for various reasons (Frankenthal et al, 2022; Gori et al, 2023; Rego et al, 2023; Song & Lee, 2023; Takoudjou Dzomo et al, 2023; WHO, 2023). Many developed countries reported relatively low vaccination rates in their populations (WHO, 2023) despite offering free vaccines to all eligible subjects (there were almost no sub‐groups of the adult population that were not allowed to get vaccinated for health reasons) (Barda et al, 2021; Hodgson et al, 2021; Polack et al, 2020; Zhu et al, 2020), and in spite of repetitive outbreaks of the pandemic.…”