Title : COVID-19 vaccination and vaccine hesitancy: A global perspective
Abstract:
The outbreak of COVID-19 has severely affected the world with devastating consequences. It has unprecedented effect on lives, livelihoods, economies, and so on. Several potential vaccines have been developed to combat from COVID-19. Despite this success and the availability of vaccines, government and business mandates, and public education campaigns that have convinced some people to accept the vaccination against COVID-19; vaccine hesitancy remains a major challenge. As a result, many people were hesitant to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or less inclined to receive booster shots, or even less likely to vaccinate their offspring. Several countries, including some African countries, have not achieved herd immunity on time.
Although, now pandemic is over after its devastating impact, recurrence of similar pandemic in future can’t be denies. Hence, it is time to learn from the recent pandemic and be prepared for the future. It was observed that a significant portion of the global population were unvaccinated or hesitant to vaccinate against COVID-19. It is well established that the COVID vaccines, including boosters, are proven to be safe and effective at preventing infection or reducing the risk of serious effects of the virus. Still acceptance of vaccination was crucial across different populations. Convincing vaccine-hesitant populations to get vaccinated against COVID-19 were difficult. Vaccine hesitancy refers to a delay in acceptance or refusal of safe vaccines despite the availability of vaccination services.
Various factors can influence vaccine hesitancy including socio-economic, psychological, and informational aspects. People’s health beliefs are major determinants of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. It depends on the combination of several factors, namely, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action, and self-efficacy. Hence, this paper will be an attempt to highlight the determinants of vaccine hesitancy on the basis of reported literature from different parts of the globe.
