COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and its determinants among health-care workers and non-health-care workers: An online survey in India

Abstract

Background: India has already witnessed two COVID-19 waves, and in midst of it, India was not far behind in rolling out COVID-19 vaccination. However, considering the novelty of the disease and very short duration invested in developing the vaccine, hesitancy to take the vaccine was expected. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted by using validated, multi-lingual, self-administered online questionnaires designed separately for the health-care workers (HCWs) and non-HCWs. Adult subjects willing to participate in our study by filling the online questionnaire were included. First 1000 responses were selected for the analysis. Results: On Likert scale, 45% HCWs and 51.2% non-HCWs were hesitant about vaccination. Binary logistic regression predicted the factors of hesitancy as follows. for HCWs (female-gender [odds ratio (OR) = 0.518, 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) 0.368–0.728, P < 0.001], middle-age [26–35 years (OR = 1.78, 95% CI 1.644–8.062), P = 0.001], 35–55 years [OR = 2.51, 95% CI 1.279–4.925, P = 0.007], doubtful vaccine efficacy [OR = 2.262, 95% CI 1.283–3.989, P = 0.005]); for non-HCWs [{no past medical illness (OR = 1.672, 95% CI 1.019–2.906, P = 0.048)], doubtful vaccine efficacy [(OR = 2.442, 95% CI 1.022–5.834, P = 0.048)]. Conclusions: Our observations suggest that the vaccine hesitancy can be a major hindrance to achieve desired vaccination coverage in India. This hesitancy is safety, quality control, novelty of the disease and vaccine, efficacy and false belief of herd immunity among the community.

Keywords

• covid-19 vaccine hesitancy
• vaccine acceptance
• vaccine efficacy
• vaccine perception
• vaccine safety