Assessing the Distrust and Vaccine Hesitancy about COVID-19 Vaccines Among Academic Staff in Turkey: A Cross-Sectional Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36570/jduhs.2024.1.1988Keywords:
Coronavirus, COVID-19 Vaccines, Vaccination, Vaccine Hesitancy, TurkeyAbstract
Objective: To determine the distrust and hesitancy about COVID-19 vaccines among academic staff in Turkey.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at different universities in Turkey from April to June 2021. Turkish-speaking academics working as academic staff in Turkey were included. The outcomes were staff distrust of COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine hesitancy score levels. Scale of Vaccine Hesitancy in Turkish Language-Short Form was used to measure vaccine hesitancy score levels. The scale scored between 12 and 60; the risk of vaccine hesitancy increases as the score increases.
Results: Total 932 academic staff, distrust of COVID-19 vaccines rate was observed in 560 (60.1%). Females were 0.32 times significantly less likely to distrust COVID-19 vaccines (aOR 0.68, 95% CI 0.51 to 0.92, p-value 0.014). Those with a history of influenza vaccination were 0.75 times significantly less likely to distrust COVID-19 vaccines (aOR 0.25, 95% CI 0.17 to 0.36, p-value <0.001). However, staff informed through social media were 1.51 times significantly more likely to distrust COVID-19 vaccines (aOR 1.51, 95% CI 1.09 to 2.10, p-value 0.012). Mean vaccine hesitancy score was 52.68 ± 8.72. A significantly higher mean vaccine hesitancy score was found with age 51-60 years, working in health sciences, staff had no history of seasonal influenza vaccine, received information about
COVID-19 vaccines from social media and social circles (p-value <0.05 respectively).
Conclusion: The study found notable distrust and hesitancy toward COVID-19 vaccines, influenced by demographics. Those with influenza vaccination history showed lower hesitancy, while social media played a crucial role.
Downloads
References
Zhao W, Zhong Z, Xie X, Yu Q, Liu J. Relation between chest CT findings and clinical conditions of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pneumonia: A multicenter study. AJR Am J Roentgenol 2020; 214:1072-7. doi:10.2214/AJR.20.22976
Liu D, Li L, Wu X, Zheng D, Wang J, Yang L, et al. Pregna-ncy and perinatal outcomes of women with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Pneumonia: A preliminary analysis. AJR Am J Roentgenol 2020; 215: 127-32. doi:10.2214/AJR.20.23072
Trogen B, Pirofski L A. Understanding vaccine hesitancy in COVID-19. Med 2021; 498-501. doi.org/10.1016/j.medj.2021.04.002
Lazarus J v, Ratzan SC, Palayew A, Gostin LO, Larson HJ, Rabin K, et al. A global survey of potential acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccine. Nat Med 2021; 27:225-8. doi:10.1038/s41591-020-01226-0
Chou WYS, Budenz A. Considering emotion in COVID-19 Vaccine communication: addressing vaccine hesitancy and fostering vaccine confidence. Health Commun 2020; 35:1718-22. doi:10.1080/10410236.2020.1838096
Murphy J, Vallieres F, Bentall RP, Shevlin M, McBride O, Hartman TK, et al. Psychological characteristics associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and resistance in Ireland and the United Kingdom. Nat Commun 2021; 12:29.7. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-20226-9
Godlee F. What should we do about vaccine hesitancy? The BMJ 2019; 365. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-20226-9
Saied SM, Saied EM, Kabbash IA, Abdo Saef. Vaccine hesitancy: Beliefs and barriers associated with COVID-19 vaccination among Egyptian medical students. J Med Virol 2021; 93:4280-91. doi:10.1002/jmv.26910
Gao X, Li H, He W, Zeng W. COVID-19 Vaccine hesitancy among medical students: the next COVID-19 challenge in Wuhan, China. Disaster Med Public Health Prep 2021; 17:46. doi:10.1017/dmp.2021.291
Dube E, Gagnon D, MacDonald NE. Strategies intended to address vaccine hesitancy: review of published reviews. Vaccine 2015; 33:4191-203. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2015.04.041
Ikiısık H, Akif Sezerol M, Tasc Y, Maral I. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: a community-based research in Turkey. Int J Clin Pract 2021; 75:143-36. doi:10.1111/ijcp.14336
Uzochukwu IC, Eleje GU, Nwankwo CH, Chukwuma GO, Uzuke CA, Uzochukwu CE, et al. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among staff and students in a Nigerian tertiary educational institution. Ther Adv Infect Dis 2021 ; 8:204993612-23. doi:10.1177/20499361211054923
Kılıncarslan MG, Sarıgul B, Toraman C, Sahin EM. Development of valid and reliable scale of vaccine hesitancy in Turkish language. Konuralp tıp dergisi 2020; 12:420-9. doi:10.18521/ktd.693711
Kutlu HH, Altındis M. Anti-vaccination. Flora Dergisi 2018 ;23:47-58. doi:10.5578/flora.66355
Verger P, Dube E. Restoring confidence in vaccines in the COVID-19 era. Expert Rev Vaccines 2020; 19:991-93. doi:10.1080/14760584.2020.1825945
Cerci UO, Canoz N, Canoz K. The use of social media as a means of information in the Covid 19 crisis period. J Selcuk Univ Soc Sci Inst 2020; 44:184-98.
Dror A A, Eisenbach N, Taiber S, Morozov NG, Mizrachi M, Zigron A,et al. Vaccine hesitancy: the next challenge in the fight against COVID-19. Eur J Epidemiol 2020; 35:775-79. doi:10.1007/s10654-020-00671-y
Callaghan T, Moghtaderi A, Lueck JA, Hotez J, Strych U, Dor A, et al. Correlates and disparities of COVID-19vaccine hesitancy. SSRN Electro J 2020; 1-20. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3667971
Galbadage T, Peterson BM, Awada J, Buck AS, Ramirez DA, Wilson J, et al. Systematic review and meta- analysis of sex-specific COVID-19 clinical outcome. Front Med (Lausanne) 2020; 7:348. doi:10.3389/fmed.2020.00348
Soares P, Rocha JV, Moniz M, Gama A, Laires PA, Pedro AR, et al. Factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Vaccines 2021; 9:2-14. doi:10.3390/vaccines9030300
Fisher KA, Bloomstone SJ, Walder J, Crawford S, Fouayzi H, Mazor KM. Attitudes toward a potential SARS-CoV-2 vaccine: a survey of U.S. adults. Ann Intern Med 2020; 73:964-73. doi:10.7326/M20-3569
Gadoth A, Martin-Blais R, Tobin NH, Gray A, Tobin NH, Ferbas KG, et al. Assessment of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among healthcare workers in Los Angeles. Medrxiv 2020; 2020-11. doi:10.1101/2020.11.18.20234468
Ruiz JB, Bell RA. Predictors of intention to vaccinate against COVID-19: Results of a nationwide survey. Vaccine 2021; 39:1080–6. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.01.010
Pagoto S, Waring ME, Xu R. A call for a public health agenda for social media research. J Med Internet Res 2019; 21:e16661. doi:10.2196/16661
Hou Z, Tong Y, Du F, Lu L, Zhao S, Yu K, et al. Assessing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, confidence and public engagement: a global social listening study. J Med Internet Res 2021; 23:e27632 doi:10.2196/27632
Hotez PJ, Cooney RE, Benjamin RM, Brewer NT, Buttenheim AM, Callaghan T, et al. Announcing the Lancet commission on vaccine refusal, acceptance, and demand in the USA. The Lancet 2021; 397:1165-7. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00372-X
Jin F, Wang W, Zhao L, Dougherty E, Cao Y, Lu CT, et al. Misinformation propagation in the age of Twitter. Computer 2014; 47:90-4.
doi:10.1109/MC.2014.361
Bruine de Bruin W, Parker AM, Galesic M, Vardavas R. Reports of social circles' and own vaccination behavior: A national longitudinal survey. Health Psychol 2019; 38:975-83. doi:10.1037/hea0000771
Coman IA, Xu S, Yamamoto M. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: Disadvantaged groups' experience with perceived barriers, cues to action, and attitudes. Am J Health Promot 2023; 37:488-98. doi:10.1177/08901171221136113
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Deniz Akyıldız, Mansur Seymen Segmenoglu
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Articles published in the Journal of Dow University of Health Sciences are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc/4.0/. This license permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium; provided the original work is properly cited and initial publication in this journal. 
