Spirituality and other factors associated with COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance amongst Healthcare Workers in Cameroon

Abstract

Background: The production of the different COVID-19 vaccines has offered hope towards controlling the pandemic. Many governments around the world have been able to secure the number of doses required for the vaccination of their entire population. In Cameroon, the government’s strategy has been to secure the number of doses required to vaccinate frontline workers and other population at risk. A threat to this strategy could be vaccine hesitancy as demonstrated in previous studies. In this article we discussed the influence of spirituality on vaccine acceptance. We also examined other factors associated with vaccine acceptance amongst healthcare workers in Cameroon. Methods: This was a cross-sectional online survey of healthcare workers in Cameroon. Data was collected using Surveysparrow and then computed into Microsoft Excel. All analysis were done using Stata 14. Results: A total number of 371 healthcare workers took part in the survey and 45.38% indicated willingness to accept the vaccine if offered. The most common reason advanced for non-acceptance of the vaccine was negative perceptions about the efficacy of the vaccines. Independent factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine acceptance following a multivariate logistic regression included: being married (AOR 1.13, p< 0.01), presence of comorbidity (AOR:2.10, p<0.02), participants who had direct contact with covid patients (AOR: 3.34, p<0.01). Spirituality level was not independently associated with vaccine acceptance (AOR: 1.12, p<0.63). Conclusion: COVID-19 vaccine acceptance amongst healthcare workers in Cameroon is low. This is likely to reduce the vaccine uptake amongst healthcare workers. HCWs are in the best position to influence the uptake of these vaccines by the general population, therefore educating healthcare workers on the efficacy of these vaccines might improve their acceptance.

Factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among healthcare workers in Cameroon and Nigeria: a web-based cross-sectional study

“…Our estimates of vaccine hesitancy among HCWs were similar to other studies conducted in HCWs in Cameroon [22], Ethiopia [23], Saudi Arabia [24] and the United Kingdom [25]. However, we observed a much higher proportion of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy than in a previous report among HCWs in South Africa [26].…”

COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among health care workers in Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The current systematic review and meta-analysis identified 8 main reasons for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among HCWs in Africa. These includes: the side effects of the vaccine [ 7 , 15 , 23 , 26 , 28 , 29 , 32 , 36 , 37 , 40 ] the vaccine’s safety [ 15 , 23 , 24 , 26 , 36 , 37 , 40 ], efficacy and effectiveness [ 7 , 26 , 28 , 29 , 32 , 36 , 40 ], short duration of the clinical trials [ 23 , 26 , 29 , 32 , 37 , 40 ], COVID-19 infections [ 15 , 32 ], limited information [ 27 , 28 ], and lack of social trust [insufficient trust in the vaccine’s source, lack of trust from the manufacturers, lack of trust from governments] [ 27 , 37 ]. The results are summarized in Table 3 .…”

A Mapping Review on the Uptake of the COVID-19 Vaccine among Adults in Africa Using the 5As Vaccine Taxonomy

“…31 Among the 58 articles, nine studies reported $ 80% 26,27,31,32,36,[53][54][55][56] of their participants would accept/take the COVID-19 vaccine when available, 27 studies reported between 50% and 79%, [28][29][30][34][35][36]46,47,51,[57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73] and 15 studies reported , 50%. 36,45,49,50,52,[74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82] Of 58 studies, 31 reported factors that influence the desire to be vaccinated and were grouped as ...…”