Vaccine Acceptance and Hesitancy among Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients in Punjab, Pakistan

• Published in: Vaccines (Basel) Vol. 10; no. 10; p. 1640
• Main Authors: Baraka, Mohamed A, Manzoor, Muhammad Nouman, Ayoub, Umar, Aljowaie, Reem M, Mustafa, Zia Ul, Zaidi, Syed Tabish Razi, Salman, Muhammad, Kow, Chia Siang, Aldeyab, Mamoon A, Hasan, Syed Shahzad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 30.09.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Acceptance tests; Beliefs, opinions and attitudes; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 vaccines; Data collection; Disease transmission; Education; False information; Hospital patients; Hospitalization; Hospitals; Income; Medical personnel; Methods; Pakistan; Pandemics; Patients; Polymerase chain reaction; Population; Professionals; Questionnaires; Reliability analysis; RNA-directed DNA polymerase; Rural areas; SARS-CoV-2; Urban areas; Vaccination; vaccine acceptance; vaccine hesitancy; Vaccines; Validation studies; Validity; Pakistan; Punjab Pakistan
• ISSN: 2076-393X; 2076-393X
• DOI: 10.3390/vaccines10101640

Vaccine hesitancy is widespread in many parts of the globe, particularly in low–middle-income countries. Therefore, we surveyed a sample of hospitalized COVID-19 patients to assess COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and vaccine hesitancy in a low–middle-income country. A cross-sectional sample of 385 confirmed reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction COVID-19 patients treated at secondary and tertiary care hospitals in Punjab, Pakistan, were analyzed to assess COVID-19 vaccine uptake and vaccine hesitancy. The construct validity and reliability of the 11-item vaccine hesitancy questionnaire were also examined. In addition, multivariate logistic regression was used. The majority of the COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals were not vaccinated (84%). Of those who were willing to receive vaccination, the majority (55%) considered vaccines an effective way to protect people from COVID-19. However, those who were not willing to receive their COVID-19 vaccine had significantly higher hesitancy than those willing to receive their COVID-19 vaccine. In addition, older hospitalized COVID-19 patients aged 60 years or above (20–29 years: OR 0.10; 95% CI 0.01–0.72, p = 0.001) and patients from urban areas (OR 3.16 95% CI 1.27–7.87, p = 0.013) were more likely to receive the COVID-19 vaccine than younger patients and patients from rural areas. Patients with no formal education had significantly higher hesitancy (OR 5.26; 96% CI 1.85–14.97, p = 0.002) than participants with graduation and above education. More than half of the study’s participants did not trust information shared on social media about COVID-19 vaccines and cited newspapers/news channels as their main source of information. The study provides important insights into COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and the impact of vaccination campaigns. Many unvaccinated COVID-19 patients in hospitals highlight the need for an effective vaccination drive to protect people from acquiring infection and subsequent hospitalization.