Predictors of COVID-19 vaccination uptake and reasons for decline of vaccination: a systematic review

Abstract

Background: Various COVID-19 vaccines with proven safety and effectiveness are available now but vaccine hesitancy remains a public threat. COVID-19 vaccines uptake appears to have an essential role in the successful control of the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective: To examine predictors of COVID-19 vaccination uptake and reasons for decline of vaccination. Methods: We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines for this systematic review. We searched Medline, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, CINAHL, and a pre-print service (medRxiv) from inception to July 12, 2021. We used the following key-words: vaccin*, COVID-19, and uptake. We included all types of studies (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods) reporting COVID-19 vaccination uptake. The review protocol was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42021267460). Results: Twelve studies met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. COVID-19 vaccination uptake ranged from 28.6% to 98% in the general population, while among healthcare workers ranged from 33.3% to 94.5%, and among patients ranged from 36% to 80%. The main predictors of COVID-19 vaccination uptake were male gender, white race, older age, higher socioeconomic status, higher self-perceived COVID-19 vulnerability, increased information about COVID-19 vaccines, and chronic illness. The most important reasons for decline of vaccination were concerns about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, illness, medication, pregnancy, fertility, breastfeeding, religious reasons, ethical reasons, previous COVID-19 diagnosis, self-estimation that COVID-19 is not a severe disease, and limited knowledge about the vaccines. Conclusions: Several factors affect COVID-19 vaccination uptake, while various reasons affect people decision to refuse to take a COVID-19 vaccine. These findings are essential to further enhance our understanding of COVID-19 vaccination uptake and design specific interventions. Given the high prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, our findings have major implications for the delivery of COVID-19 vaccination programmes in the public with special attention to people who are undecided or unlikely to take a COVID-19 vaccine.

Cross-sectional assessment of predictors for COVID-19 vaccine uptake: an online survey in Greece

“…In addition, we found that the most important reasons why participants were not vaccinated were concerns about the safety, effectiveness and side effects of COVID-19 vaccines, previous COVID-19 diagnosis, and females’ effort to get pregnant. Literature confirms this finding with studies conducted not only in the general population but also in patients and health professionals (Galanis et al, 2021).…”

Willingness, refusal and influential factors of parents to vaccinate their children against the COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Recent meta-analyses found that the overall COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rate was approximately 73%, while acceptance among the general population is higher than among healthcare workers ( Galanis et al, 2021 ; Luo et al, 2021 ; Snehota et al, 2021 ; Wang et al, 2021b ). Also, real-world data from early studies reveal that COVID-19 vaccination uptake ranges from 28.6% to 98% in the general population ( Galanis et al, 2021a ). Several factors influence vaccination intention and uptake in the general population such as sociodemographic characteristics, attitudes towards vaccination, psychological factors, perceptions of risk and susceptibility to COVID-19, knowledge, information, personal factors, medical conditions, etc.…”

“…Several factors influence vaccination intention and uptake in the general population such as sociodemographic characteristics, attitudes towards vaccination, psychological factors, perceptions of risk and susceptibility to COVID-19, knowledge, information, personal factors, medical conditions, etc. ( Al-Amer et al, 2021 ; Galanis et al, 2021a ; Snehota et al, 2021 ; Wake, 2021 ; Wang et al, 2021b ).…”

Predictors of real-world parents’ acceptance to vaccinate their children against the COVID-19

“…Successful management of the pandemic requires vaccination of the general population at a high rate, which may now be as high as 80% (Bartsch et al, 2020). However, the COVID-19 vaccination rate exceeds 80% in only a few studies, and in some cases is extremely low, reaching as low as 28.6% (Galanis et al, 2021a). Until now, COVID-19 vaccine uptake in most countries fall below estimates of the required threshold for herd immunity (Ritchie et al, 2021).…”