Low COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Brazil

• Published in: Vaccine Vol. 39; no. 42; pp. 6262 - 6268
• Main Authors: Moore, Daniella Campelo Batalha Cox, Nehab, Marcio Fernandes, Camacho, Karla Gonçalves, Reis, Adriana Teixeira, Junqueira-Marinho, Maria de Fátima, Abramov, Dimitri Marques, Azevedo, Zina Maria Almeida de, Menezes, Livia Almeida de, Salú, Margarida dos Santos, Figueiredo, Carlos Eduardo da Silva, Moreira, Maria Elisabeth Lopes, Vasconcelos, Zilton Farias Meira de, Carvalho, Flavia Amendola Anisio de, Mello, Livia de Rezende de, Correia, Roberta Fernandes, Junior, Saint Clair dos Santos Gomes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier Ltd 08.10.2021; Elsevier Limited; The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult; Adverse reactions; Allergy and Immunology; Bivariate analysis; Brazil; Child; Children; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 infection; COVID-19 vaccine; COVID-19 Vaccines; Efficacy; Epidemiology; fearfulness; Female; Humans; income; Independent variables; logit analysis; Male; males; Medical research; Pandemics; Polls & surveys; Population; Prevention; Privacy; Risk analysis; Risk factors; SARS-CoV-2; Social networks; Survey; surveys; Vaccine hesitancy; Vaccines; Variables; Brazil; United States > US; Brazil; COVID-19 vaccine; Efficacy; Survey; Adverse reactions; Vaccine hesitancy
• ISSN: 0264-410X; 1873-2518; 1873-2518
• DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.09.013

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the entire world, and the vaccine has emerged as a source of hope for return to normal life. Still, various countries have reported high vaccine hesitancy rates. It is important to know the vaccine hesitancy profile in Brazil to help design adequate communication strategies. A voluntary, anonymous online survey was conducted from January 22 to 29, 2021, including resident Brazilian adults to assess factors related to vaccine hesitancy. Sociodemographic and epidemiological data were analyzed. A bivariate analysis was conducted with the independent variables, with vaccine hesitancy as the outcome variable, and a multivariate logistic model was used to calculated adjusted odds ratios. The sample included 173,178 respondents, and vaccine hesitancy was found in 10.5%. The principal factors associated with vaccine hesitancy were the following: assigning importance to the vaccinés efficacy (AOR = 16.39), fear of adverse reactions (AOR = 11.23), and assigning importance to the vaccinés country of origin (AOR = 3.72). Other risk factors were the following: male gender (AOR = 1.62), having children (AOR = 1.29), 9 years of schooling or less (AOR = 1.31), living in the Central-West region (AOR = 1.19), age ≥ 40 years (AOR = 1.17), and monthly income < U$788.68 (AOR = 1.13). The two vaccines available in Brazil, Covishield and CoronaVac, showed similar confidence, 80.13% and 76.36%, respectively, despite the higher rejection of the latter vaccinés Chinese origin. This online survey confirms the low vaccine hesitancy rate among Brazilians and allowed the identification of a profile that can assist the elaboration of communication strategies to increase vaccine adherence. National Institute of Women, Children and Adolescents Health Fernandes Figueira, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.