COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in a tribal-state of India: A cross-sectional study

The delayed acceptance or abject refusal to take vaccines despite the availability of vaccination services has been termed as vaccine hesitancy (VH). The 5C Model of VH includes Confidence, Convenience, Complacency, and Communication as major determinants of VH in the population.

This study was conducted among vaccinees enrolled at the Vaccination Center of the largest tertiary hospital in the tribal state of Jharkhand. The study was a cross-sectional study aimed to determine the extent of VH for COVID-19 vaccines prevalent in the study population and the associated factors. The study subjects included vaccinees at RIMS, Ranchi Vaccination Center. It included all subjects aged 18 years and above, consenting to be a part of the study. Study participants were recruited from the line list prepared for COVID-19 vaccination from the Co-win portal. A total of 625 participants were recruited. A predesigned, pretested, semistructured questionnaire was administered to all the study participants.

Out of the 625 recruited participants, VH was found in 165 subjects. The factor that is the biggest contributor to VH was the fear of the potential long-/short-term side effects of the vaccine (31.7%), which was followed by the fear of the pain from the shot (14.9%) and distrust in the vaccines due to shorter clinical trials (14.9%).

V is a significant, living phenomenon that is translating into geographical clustering of epidemics and requires attention on both the micro- and macrolevels to be addressed successfully.