The degree of popular acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines

Although COVID-19 vaccines have saved many lives, there are still people who are convinced that they do nothing or even cause more harm than good. A recent study has examined the evolution of the degree of popular acceptance of vaccines against COVID-19.

By providing cross-nation data on COVID-19 vaccine uptake over three years, this new study may help policymakers more effectively address vaccine hesitancy.

Uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine increased globally, from 75.2% in 2021 to 79.1% in 2022, according to a survey conducted in 23 countries representing more than 60% of the world’s population. However, uptake of the vaccine declined in eight countries and almost one in eight vaccinated people surveyed, particularly younger men and women, were reluctant to receive a booster dose.

The study, led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and the City University of New York (CUNY) in the United States, highlights the great variability between countries and the need to adapt communication strategies to combat the vaccination reluctance.

“The pandemic is not over, and authorities must urgently address vaccine hesitancy and resistance as part of their COVID-19 prevention and mitigation strategy,” said Jeffrey V Lazarus, head of the Health Systems Research Group. of ISGlobal, a center promoted by the “la Caixa” Foundation. However, to do this, policy makers need robust data on the trend in vaccine hesitancy (whether it is decreasing or increasing and in which populations) and the factors that influence it (such as income or education level). .

To obtain these data, an international collaboration led by Lazarus and CUNY’s Ayman El-Mohandes conducted a series of surveys starting in 2020 in 23 highly populated countries heavily affected by the pandemic (Germany, Brazil, Canada, China, South Korea, Ecuador, Spain, the United States, France, Ghana, India, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Poland, the United Kingdom, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden and Turkey). The data presented here correspond to the third survey, carried out between June and July 2022.

Dose of one of the vaccines against COVID-19. (Photo: Lisa Ferdinando, DOD)

Of the 23,000 people surveyed (1,000 per country surveyed), 79.1% were willing to accept vaccination. This result represents an increase of 5.2% compared to June 2021. The willingness of parents to vaccinate their children also increased slightly, from 67.6% in 2021 to 69.5% in 2022. However, eight countries saw an increase in reluctance (from 1.0% in the UK to 21.1% in South Africa). Worryingly, almost one in eight (12.1%) vaccinated people surveyed were hesitant to get a booster dose. This indecision was higher among the younger age groups (18-29 years). “We must remain vigilant in monitoring this data, contain COVID-19 variants and address hesitancy, which may challenge future COVID-19 immunization programmes,” said Ayman El-Mohandes, co-author of the study. .

The survey also provides new information on the treatments received. Globally, ivermectin was given with the same frequency as other approved drugs, despite the fact that the WHO and other agencies do not recommend its use to prevent or treat COVID-19.

In addition, almost 40% of those surveyed stated that they pay less attention than before to new information about COVID-19 and give less support to vaccination mandates.

In some countries, vaccine reluctance was associated with variables such as being female (for example, China, Poland, and Russia), not having a college degree (for example, France, Poland, South Africa, Sweden, and the US) or have a lower income (for example, Canada, Germany, Turkey and the United Kingdom). Furthermore, the profile of people paying less attention to the pandemic varied from country to country.

“Our results show that public health strategies to increase coverage of booster doses will need to be more sophisticated and adaptable to each setting and target population,” says Lazarus. “To improve vaccine uptake, strategies need to include messages that convey compassion rather than fear and use trusted messengers, particularly health professionals,” she adds.

The data provided by the surveys can help decision-makers, healthcare professionals and researchers to address COVID-19 vaccine reluctance more effectively. The new study follows on the heels of a global consensus statement on ending COVID-19 as a public health threat, which Lazarus, El-Mohandes, and 364 co-authors from 112 countries published in the academic journal Nature several months ago.

The new study is titled “A survey of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance across 23 countries in 2022”. And it has been published in the academic journal Nature Medicine. (Source: ISGlobal)