Search

Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine acceptance is influenced by the trusted recommenders. This survey examined the public references, concerns, and trust in seven groups of recommenders regarding COVID-19 vaccine in Vietnam. Materials and Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 1,579 participants between April 16 and July 16, 2021. Participants’ references, concerns, and responses to vaccination recommendations made by government officials, employers, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, senior family members, and religious leaders were captured using a self-administered questionnaire. Results Rates of trust ranged from 18.5% to 89.1%. The highest rates were attributable to government (89.1%) and physicians (85.9%). Less than half of participants would accept the vaccines if pharmacists (45.5%), nurses (44.7%), employers (42.4%), senior family members (28.1%), and religious leaders (18.4%) recommended it. Only 37.6% of participants thought that vaccines were safe for them, while 57% were unsure. Most participants would wait and see how people respond to the vaccines before getting vaccinated (91.5%), preferred to receive the vaccines at public hospitals (88.6%), and were concerned about vaccine effectiveness (86.9%) and side effects (76.4%), while 61.8% were concerned about vaccine cost. Conclusion Focusing on the personal benefit and relying on the government, physicians, and social role models would make the vaccine advertising campaigns more effective. If annual vaccinations were needed, providing the community with affordable vaccines would be an appropriate, long-term solution to ensure vaccination coverage in low-resource countries like Vietnam. Further studies are needed to examine reasons for the public reference of vaccination centers which may help in improving their confidence in getting the vaccine, regardless of the settings.

Background COVID-19 vaccine acceptance is essential in controlling the virus. Vaccine knowledge influences vaccine acceptance and understanding this is vital in planning immunization strategies. Objectives This study aimed to examine the public COVID-19 vaccine knowledge levels and predictors of low knowledge levels in Vietnam. Methods A cross-sectional, community-based survey was conducted between 16 April and 16 July 2021. To examine the community knowledge levels regarding the vaccine essentialness and efficacy, a self-administered questionnaire was developed and was comprised of seven questions with five Likert scale responses corresponding to the levels of agreement/disagreement with the provided statements and scores ranging from 0-4. An individual’s knowledge score above the mean score of all participants was defined as ‘acceptable’ and that below was defined as ‘low’. Results Among 1708 respondents, the mean age was 34.3 ± 13.4 years, 942 (55.2%) were females, and 797 (46.7%) had acceptable knowledge levels. Age (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=0.984, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.972-0.995, P=0.005) and being vaccinated against COVID-19 (AOR=0.653, 95%CI: 0.431–0.991, P=0.045) were inversely associated with lower knowledge levels. Those with a Gapminder income of $8

Background and aims Vaccine hesitancy is a major threat to COVID-19 vaccination programs. This study aimed to examine the public attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines, the variance of these attitudes, and associated determinants within a large COVID-19 outbreak in Vietnam. Methods Two focus group discussions were conducted online with 20 people from different socio-economic and profession backgrounds. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants. Discussions were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Key themes were extracted using reflexive thematic analysis method. Results Four distinct, non-static attitudes including acceptance, conditional acceptance, hesitancy, and anti-vaccination were found. Themes identified as determinants of these attitudes were external factors, internal factors, and risk-benefit self-assessment regarding COVID-19 vaccination. Conclusions We found mixed, non-static COVID-19 vaccination attitudes. People's vaccination risk-benefit self-assessment greatly determines the variance of their attitudes over time. Given high public trust in the authorities, the government should take the lead to counter COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. To increase acceptance, vaccine advertising campaigns should focus on providing information about the dangers of COVID-19, the ability to manage side-effects at the vaccination centers, and updated, precise information on both the outbreak and vaccines. Future research is needed to identify the public most common COVID-19 information channels to enable effective community education.