Al-Wutayd Osama, Khalil Rehana, Rajar Allah Bachayo
Department of Family and Community Medicine, Unaizah College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Unaizah, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Community Medicine, Muhammad Medical College, MirpurKhas, Pakistan.
J Multidiscip Healthc. 2021 Oct 9;14:2847-2856. doi: 10.2147/JMDH.S325529. eCollection 2021.
The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues with resurgent second and third waves worldwide. Vaccination is one of several measures that are needed to end this pervasive threat. Pakistan, however, has a relatively low rate of routine vaccine acceptance. Our study aimed to determine the proportion and predictors of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (VH) among adults in Pakistan.
An online cross-sectional study was conducted from December 27, 2020 to March 6, 2021. Non-probability sampling was applied to recruit study participants through social media platforms (ie, Facebook and Twitter) and through free messaging services (WhatsApp). Stata 16 was used to generate descriptive statistics and logistic regression models for identifying predictive variables of vaccine hesitancy. A p-value of <0.05 was considered strong evidence against the null hypothesis.
Out of 1014 participants, 35.8% (n=363) were hesitant about receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Reasons for VH included concerns about side effects (42.4%), belief in conspiracy theories (20.1%), perceived inefficacy of the vaccine (13.2%), and perceived protection through precautionary measures (12.6%). Urban residency (AOR 2.34, 95% CI 1.54-3.57), reservations about vaccine safety (AOR 3.29, 95% CI 1.68-6.44), uncertainty about vaccine efficacy (AOR 2.70, 95% CI 1.50-4.86), failure of the vaccine to reduce hospitalization and death (AOR 6.36, 95% CI 4.01-10.22), and unfelt need for vaccination awareness among public (AOR 2.02, 95% CI 1.28-3.14) were associated with higher rates of VH. At least one chronic disease (AOR 0.60, 95% CI 0.39-0.92), knowing someone infected with COVID-19 (AOR 0.56, 95% CI 0.39-0.81), and trusting information from the ministry of health (AOR 0.64, 95% CI 0.41-0.99) and physicians (AOR 0.27, 95% CI 0.13-0.53) were found to be associated with lower rates of COVID-19 VH.
More than one third of survey participants were VH. COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Pakistan can be improved through targeted health education strategies and planned interventions that address the barriers identified in the present study.
当前的2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行在全球范围内以第二波和第三波疫情的形式持续蔓延。疫苗接种是消除这一普遍威胁所需的多项措施之一。然而，巴基斯坦的常规疫苗接种率相对较低。我们的研究旨在确定巴基斯坦成年人中COVID-19疫苗犹豫（VH）的比例及其预测因素。
于2020年12月27日至2021年3月6日进行了一项在线横断面研究。通过社交媒体平台（即Facebook和Twitter）以及免费消息服务（WhatsApp）采用非概率抽样方法招募研究参与者。使用Stata 16生成描述性统计数据和逻辑回归模型，以识别疫苗犹豫的预测变量。p值<0.05被视为反对原假设的有力证据。
在1014名参与者中，35.8%（n = 363）对接种COVID-19疫苗持犹豫态度。疫苗犹豫的原因包括担心副作用（42.4%）、相信阴谋论（20.1%）、认为疫苗无效（13.2%）以及认为通过预防措施可获得保护（12.6%）。城市居住（比值比[AOR] 2.34，95%置信区间[CI] 1.54 - 3.57）、对疫苗安全性的保留意见（AOR 3.29，95% CI 1.68 - 6.44）、对疫苗效力的不确定性（AOR 2.70，95% CI 1.50 - 4.86）、疫苗未能降低住院率和死亡率（AOR 6.36，95% CI 4.01 - 10.22）以及公众对疫苗接种意识的需求未得到满足（AOR 2.02，95% CI 1.28 - 3.14）与较高水平的疫苗犹豫相关。至少患有一种慢性病（AOR 0.60，95% CI 0.39 - 0.92）、认识感染COVID-19的人（AOR 0.56，95% CI 0.39 - 0.81）以及信任来自卫生部（AOR 0.64，95% CI 0.41 - 0.99）和医生（AOR 0.27，95% CI 0.13 - 0.53）的信息与较低水平的COVID-19疫苗犹豫相关。
超过三分之一的调查参与者存在疫苗犹豫。通过有针对性的健康教育策略和针对本研究中确定的障碍的计划性干预措施，可以提高巴基斯坦的COVID-19疫苗接种率。
