Acceptability of COVID-19 Vaccine in Africa

Abstract

As Africa prepares to overcome the difficult challenges of COVID-19 vaccination roll-outs, a number of factors, including equitable access, effective and efficient sufficient supply chains, a scope of established determinants will need to be considered in order to enhance vaccine acceptability and uptake. In this commentary, we present six major determinants of vaccine acceptability and uptake in Africa. We summarize these determinants with the acronym VAMRIS: V= Vaccine hesitancy; A= Attitude and uptake by health care workers; M= Misinformation; R= Religion; I= Immunization roll out plans; S= Social influences and enabling environment. Understanding determinants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptability will guide public health officials make informed decisions. As the Vaccine becomes progressively available, strategies for efficient roll-out to achieve massive uptake by the targeted population will depend on a number of factors. These include: community engagement efforts; types of health promotion activities and/or messages; community sensitization to dispel myths and misconceptions; endorsements and buy-ins from local champions, celebrities, authorities; logistic considerations; and incentives to health counsellors/workers to create demand. Copyright © 2020 Wirsiy et al. Published by Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in this journal, is properly cited.

he challenges to a successful COVID-19 vaccination programme in Africa

“…Myths and misinformation discouraging vaccine uptake are spreading very fast; dispelling these wrong information and misconceptions will enable efficient rollout to achieve massive uptake by the targeted population in Africa. 52 While having in place mechanisms that ensure a rapid and unhindered allocation of COVID-19 vaccines the moment they are available is imperative, the role of a holistic community sensitization is paramount and should not be overlooked. African nations must design and implement methods on the most effective ways to improve community trust, understanding and to prevent wrong information about the COVID-19 vaccines.…”

Tracking the uptake and trajectory of COVID-19 vaccination coverage in 15 West African countries: an interim analysis

“…6 17 22 It is inappropriate to generalise the whole of Africa as having a young population, with a huge proportion in the informal sector with high unemployment rates, political instability, insecurity and limited trust in government as factors impacting negatively on COVID-19 vaccine uptake. 23 Nevertheless, it is important to highlight the contextual peculiarities accounting for the deficient uptake in West Africa compared with other sub-regions in Africa, given its grave implication on the COVID-19 epidemiology, vis-a-vis emergence of COVID-19 variants, increasing morbidity and mortality, social and economic losses for West African countries and similar environments with sub-optimal immunisation coverage.…”

COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptability and Hesitancy in Africa: Implications for Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy

“…Other factors that are likely to aff ect the acceptability of vaccines in Africa include lack of equity in access to COVID-19 vaccines, lack of eff ective and effi cient supply chain systems [61]. Lack of access to vaccines promotes vaccine hesitancy [62,63].…”