COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy trends in Ghana: a cross-sectional study exploring the roles of political allegiance, misinformation beliefs, and sociodemographic factors
COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy trends in Ghana: a cross-sectional study exploring the roles of political allegiance, misinformation beliefs, and sociodemographic factors
Introduction: Africa has the slowest COVID-19 vaccination rate of any continent in the world, with only 29.8% of the population receiving at least one dose of the vaccine. This includes Ghana, where only 37.8% of the country have received at least one dose as of October, 2022. The key aims of this research were to determine levels of hesitancy in COVID-19 vaccines among unvaccinated individuals in Ghana and observe their trends across time, and to identify independent predictors associated with vaccine hesitancy among unvaccinated individuals.Methods: four online cross-sectional surveys of Ghanaian citizens were conducted in August, 2020 (N = 3048), March, 2021 (N = 1558), June, 2021 (N = 1295), and February, 2022 (N = 424).Results: overall hesitancy decreased from 36.8% (95% CI: 35.1%-38.5%) in August, 2020 to 17.2% (95% CI: 15.3%-19.1%) in March, 2021. However, hesitancy increased to 23.8% (95% CI: 21.5%-26.1%) in June, 2021, and then again to 52.2% (95% CI: 47.4%-57.0%) in February, 2022. Key reasons included not having enough vaccine-related information (50.6%) and concerns over vaccine safety (32.0%). Hesitant groups included Christians, urban dwellers, opposition political party voters, females, individuals who completed higher education, individuals who reported receiving COVID-19 information from internet sources, and individuals who expressed uncertainty about commonly-circulated COVID-19 misinformation beliefs. Conclusion: hesitancy rates among unvaccinated individuals in Ghana continues to rise. However, vaccine awareness strategies are sensitive to subpopulation characteristics. Many are reachable through targeted communication strategies, to which campaigns must focus on resolving vaccine-related concerns to ensure high vaccine uptake across Ghana.
Female, Humans, COVID-19 Vaccines, Ghana, Cross-Sectional Studies, Sociodemographic Factors, COVID-19/prevention & control, Communication, Vaccination, Vaccines
165
Brackstone, Ken
33db3628-3171-4a7f-99cc-ad15db871fc5
Atengble, Kirchuffs
4bb06f89-63c7-4d04-9b83-7cde1b0ba2f3
Head, Michael
67ce0afc-2fc3-47f4-acf2-8794d27ce69c
Boateng, Laud
fef98898-6a82-4622-aa70-4fc7e9e066b0
2 December 2022
Brackstone, Ken
33db3628-3171-4a7f-99cc-ad15db871fc5
Atengble, Kirchuffs
4bb06f89-63c7-4d04-9b83-7cde1b0ba2f3
Head, Michael
67ce0afc-2fc3-47f4-acf2-8794d27ce69c
Boateng, Laud
fef98898-6a82-4622-aa70-4fc7e9e066b0
Brackstone, Ken, Atengble, Kirchuffs, Head, Michael and Boateng, Laud
(2022)
COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy trends in Ghana: a cross-sectional study exploring the roles of political allegiance, misinformation beliefs, and sociodemographic factors.
The Pan African medical journal, 43 (165), .
(doi:10.11604/pamj.2022.43.165.37314).
Abstract
Introduction: Africa has the slowest COVID-19 vaccination rate of any continent in the world, with only 29.8% of the population receiving at least one dose of the vaccine. This includes Ghana, where only 37.8% of the country have received at least one dose as of October, 2022. The key aims of this research were to determine levels of hesitancy in COVID-19 vaccines among unvaccinated individuals in Ghana and observe their trends across time, and to identify independent predictors associated with vaccine hesitancy among unvaccinated individuals.Methods: four online cross-sectional surveys of Ghanaian citizens were conducted in August, 2020 (N = 3048), March, 2021 (N = 1558), June, 2021 (N = 1295), and February, 2022 (N = 424).Results: overall hesitancy decreased from 36.8% (95% CI: 35.1%-38.5%) in August, 2020 to 17.2% (95% CI: 15.3%-19.1%) in March, 2021. However, hesitancy increased to 23.8% (95% CI: 21.5%-26.1%) in June, 2021, and then again to 52.2% (95% CI: 47.4%-57.0%) in February, 2022. Key reasons included not having enough vaccine-related information (50.6%) and concerns over vaccine safety (32.0%). Hesitant groups included Christians, urban dwellers, opposition political party voters, females, individuals who completed higher education, individuals who reported receiving COVID-19 information from internet sources, and individuals who expressed uncertainty about commonly-circulated COVID-19 misinformation beliefs. Conclusion: hesitancy rates among unvaccinated individuals in Ghana continues to rise. However, vaccine awareness strategies are sensitive to subpopulation characteristics. Many are reachable through targeted communication strategies, to which campaigns must focus on resolving vaccine-related concerns to ensure high vaccine uptake across Ghana.
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165
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 21 November 2022
Published date: 2 December 2022
Additional Information:
this study was funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Strategic Development Fund, University of Southampton, and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Acceleration Account (IAA). The funders had no interference with the conduction, analysis, and publication process
Keywords:
Female, Humans, COVID-19 Vaccines, Ghana, Cross-Sectional Studies, Sociodemographic Factors, COVID-19/prevention & control, Communication, Vaccination, Vaccines
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Local EPrints ID: 473670
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/473670
PURE UUID: 2ca3516d-1fee-48a8-8c91-f599f574657c
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Date deposited: 27 Jan 2023 17:35
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:37
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Author:
Ken Brackstone
Author:
Kirchuffs Atengble
Author:
Laud Boateng
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