COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among staff and students in a Nigerian tertiary educational institution

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 was first reported on 31 December 2019 and has so far claimed over 2,000 lives in Nigeria. Through global and national efforts, about 4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine was distributed and used in Nigeria from March 2021. Vaccine hesitancy could pose a serious problem for COVID-19 prevention and control. Objectives: To estimate the proportion of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University community that is willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19; level of hesitancy and its associated factors. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using online Google form distributed to staff and students of the university via different WhatsApp groups. The outcome measures were the proportion of persons willing to be vaccinated, vaccine hesitancy rates and reasons for this hesitancy. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23 and Minitab version 19. Bivariate analysis was performed by the chi-square test, Odds Ratios (ORs) and statistical significance was accepted when p-value is < 0.05. Results: Only 349 of the survey responses were analyzed in the survey. Results show that 34.70 ± 5.00% of the university community were willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine when it is offered to them. The COVID-19 hesitancy rate among staff and students was 65.04 ± 5.00%. It was discovered that marital status (OR = 2.06), age (OR = 0.802) and christian denominational affiliation (OR = 0.366) influenced respondents’ perception of COVID-19 vaccination. Gender, occupation, previous vaccination experience, awareness of COVID-19 and previous symptoms of COVID-19 did not significantly ( p = 0.05) influence respondents’ willingness to be vaccinated. Conclusion: COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is high among staff and students in a Nigerian university and is significantly influenced by marital status, respondents’ age and christian denominational affiliation.

COVID-19 vaccination in Nigeria: A rapid review of vaccine acceptance rate and the associated factors

“…On the contrary, the lowest acceptance rate was 20.0% across the six geopolitical zones [ 23 ], 24.6% from Bayelsa State [ 24 ], and 32.52% across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria [ 25 ]. This was followed by 34.7% in Anambra [ 26 ], 45.6% in Abia [ 27 ], and 47.1% in Abuja [ 28 ].…”

“…For the five studies conducted among adults, the vaccine acceptance rate was a little above 50% except for the study that had a 20.0% acceptance rate [ 23 ]. Among university staff and students, a prevalence rate of 34.7% was reported [ 26 ], also, a 24.6% acceptance rate was reported among patients that presented for management at a tertiary health care facility [ 24 ].…”

“…The studies explored factors responsible for the refusal of the respondents to accept COVID-19 vaccination. The most stated reasons in the studies were conspiracy theories [ 19 , 22 – 24 , 27 ], followed by disbelief [ 23 , 24 , 26 ], and queried vaccine safety [ 20 , 21 , 24 , 25 , 28 ]. The other reasons are vaccine side effects [ 21 , 26 , 28 ] and the fear of the unknown [ 19 , 23 , 25 ].…”

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Africa: a scoping review

“…Interestingly, vaccine hesitancy was persistent among students and healthcare workers [ 26 , 37 , 51 , 54 , 61 ]. Healthcare workers are often role models for vaccine uptake, especially for populations expressing low levels of trust towards vaccines.…”

Attitude and preventive practices towards COVID-19 disease and the impact of awareness training on knowledge of the disease among correctional officers

“…Between the time of conducting this study and now, a lot have changed about the disease. One of these changes is that vaccines are now available and the awareness is high ( Uzochukwu et al, 2021 ).…”