COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among health workers in rural Uganda: A mixed methods study

Background: COVID-19 vaccination is the latest preventive intervention strategy in an attempt to control the global pandemic. Its efficacy has come under scrutiny because of break through infections among the vaccinated and need for booster doses. Besides, although health workers were prioritized fo...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ouni, Patrick Diox, Namulondo, Racheal, Wanume, Benon, Okia, David, Olupot, Peter, Nantale, Ritah, Matovu, Joseph K.B., Napyo, Agnes, Lubaale, Yovani A. Moses, Nshakira , Nathan f, Mukunya, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: www.elsevier.com/locate/jvacx 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12493/1962
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1813635240306933760
author Ouni, Patrick Diox
Namulondo, Racheal
Wanume, Benon
Okia, David
Olupot, Peter
Nantale, Ritah
Matovu, Joseph K.B.
Napyo, Agnes
Lubaale, Yovani A. Moses
Nshakira , Nathan f
Mukunya, David
author_facet Ouni, Patrick Diox
Namulondo, Racheal
Wanume, Benon
Okia, David
Olupot, Peter
Nantale, Ritah
Matovu, Joseph K.B.
Napyo, Agnes
Lubaale, Yovani A. Moses
Nshakira , Nathan f
Mukunya, David
author_sort Ouni, Patrick Diox
collection KAB-DR
description Background: COVID-19 vaccination is the latest preventive intervention strategy in an attempt to control the global pandemic. Its efficacy has come under scrutiny because of break through infections among the vaccinated and need for booster doses. Besides, although health workers were prioritized for COVID-19 vaccine in most countries, anecdotal evidence points to high levels of reluctance to take the vaccine among health workers. We assessed COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among health workers in Dokolo dis trict, northern Uganda. Methods: This was a mixed-method, cross-sectional descriptive study. A customised self-administered data collection tool was used to collect quantitative data on characteristics, vaccination status and factors for or rejection of vaccine uptake. We conducted multivariable logistic regression to assess the associa tion between selected exposures and vaccine hesitancy using Stata version 15. Conversely, qualitative data were collected using key informant interviews (KIIs) among 15 participants that were purposively selected. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis with the help of NVivo 12.0. Results: Of the 346 health workers enrolled, (13.3% [46/346]) were vaccine hesitant. Factors associated with vaccine hesitancy included fear of side effects (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR]: 2.55; 95% Confidence Interval [95%CI]: 1.00, 6.49) and health workers’ lack of trust in the information provided by health authorities (AOR: 6.74; 95% CI: 2.43, 18.72). Similar factors were associated with vaccine hesitancy when we used the vaccine hesitancy score. Fear of side effects, distrust in vaccine stakeholders, and lack of trust in the vaccine were barriers to COVID-19 vaccination among health workers. Conclusion: A small proportion of health workers were found to be hesitant to take the COVID-19 vaccine in this study. The paucity of COVID-19 vaccine safety information, which eroded the health workers’ trust in the information they received on the vaccine, was responsible for health workers hesitancy to take up the vaccine in Uganda
format Article
id oai:idr.kab.ac.ug:20.500.12493-1962
institution KAB-DR
language English
publishDate 2024
publisher www.elsevier.com/locate/jvacx
record_format dspace
spelling oai:idr.kab.ac.ug:20.500.12493-19622024-08-01T00:02:22Z COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among health workers in rural Uganda: A mixed methods study Ouni, Patrick Diox Namulondo, Racheal Wanume, Benon Okia, David Olupot, Peter Nantale, Ritah Matovu, Joseph K.B. Napyo, Agnes Lubaale, Yovani A. Moses Nshakira , Nathan f Mukunya, David COVID-19 Vaccine hesitancy Health workers SARS-CoV-2 Unwillingness Uganda Background: COVID-19 vaccination is the latest preventive intervention strategy in an attempt to control the global pandemic. Its efficacy has come under scrutiny because of break through infections among the vaccinated and need for booster doses. Besides, although health workers were prioritized for COVID-19 vaccine in most countries, anecdotal evidence points to high levels of reluctance to take the vaccine among health workers. We assessed COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among health workers in Dokolo dis trict, northern Uganda. Methods: This was a mixed-method, cross-sectional descriptive study. A customised self-administered data collection tool was used to collect quantitative data on characteristics, vaccination status and factors for or rejection of vaccine uptake. We conducted multivariable logistic regression to assess the associa tion between selected exposures and vaccine hesitancy using Stata version 15. Conversely, qualitative data were collected using key informant interviews (KIIs) among 15 participants that were purposively selected. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis with the help of NVivo 12.0. Results: Of the 346 health workers enrolled, (13.3% [46/346]) were vaccine hesitant. Factors associated with vaccine hesitancy included fear of side effects (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR]: 2.55; 95% Confidence Interval [95%CI]: 1.00, 6.49) and health workers’ lack of trust in the information provided by health authorities (AOR: 6.74; 95% CI: 2.43, 18.72). Similar factors were associated with vaccine hesitancy when we used the vaccine hesitancy score. Fear of side effects, distrust in vaccine stakeholders, and lack of trust in the vaccine were barriers to COVID-19 vaccination among health workers. Conclusion: A small proportion of health workers were found to be hesitant to take the COVID-19 vaccine in this study. The paucity of COVID-19 vaccine safety information, which eroded the health workers’ trust in the information they received on the vaccine, was responsible for health workers hesitancy to take up the vaccine in Uganda Kabale University 2024-02-14T06:23:44Z 2024-02-14T06:23:44Z 2023-07-07 Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12493/1962 en Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ application/pdf www.elsevier.com/locate/jvacx
spellingShingle COVID-19 Vaccine hesitancy Health workers SARS-CoV-2 Unwillingness Uganda
Ouni, Patrick Diox
Namulondo, Racheal
Wanume, Benon
Okia, David
Olupot, Peter
Nantale, Ritah
Matovu, Joseph K.B.
Napyo, Agnes
Lubaale, Yovani A. Moses
Nshakira , Nathan f
Mukunya, David
COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among health workers in rural Uganda: A mixed methods study
title COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among health workers in rural Uganda: A mixed methods study
title_full COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among health workers in rural Uganda: A mixed methods study
title_fullStr COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among health workers in rural Uganda: A mixed methods study
title_full_unstemmed COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among health workers in rural Uganda: A mixed methods study
title_short COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among health workers in rural Uganda: A mixed methods study
title_sort covid 19 vaccine hesitancy among health workers in rural uganda a mixed methods study
topic COVID-19 Vaccine hesitancy Health workers SARS-CoV-2 Unwillingness Uganda
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12493/1962
work_keys_str_mv AT ounipatrickdiox covid19vaccinehesitancyamonghealthworkersinruralugandaamixedmethodsstudy
AT namulondoracheal covid19vaccinehesitancyamonghealthworkersinruralugandaamixedmethodsstudy
AT wanumebenon covid19vaccinehesitancyamonghealthworkersinruralugandaamixedmethodsstudy
AT okiadavid covid19vaccinehesitancyamonghealthworkersinruralugandaamixedmethodsstudy
AT olupotpeter covid19vaccinehesitancyamonghealthworkersinruralugandaamixedmethodsstudy
AT nantaleritah covid19vaccinehesitancyamonghealthworkersinruralugandaamixedmethodsstudy
AT matovujosephkb covid19vaccinehesitancyamonghealthworkersinruralugandaamixedmethodsstudy
AT napyoagnes covid19vaccinehesitancyamonghealthworkersinruralugandaamixedmethodsstudy
AT lubaaleyovaniamoses covid19vaccinehesitancyamonghealthworkersinruralugandaamixedmethodsstudy
AT nshakiranathanf covid19vaccinehesitancyamonghealthworkersinruralugandaamixedmethodsstudy
AT mukunyadavid covid19vaccinehesitancyamonghealthworkersinruralugandaamixedmethodsstudy