3.1. Vaccine hesitancy
More than a half of the participants have already been vaccinated
(56.2%; 956/1700). Accordingly, the overall prevalence of vaccine
hesitancy was rather low, 2.2% (IC 95% 1.5% – 2.9%) of participants
responded negatively about COVID-19 vaccination intention. When
considering only those who haven’t received a dose of the COVID-19
vaccine, 5.1% (IC 95% 3.5% – 6.7%) of the participants were
resistant to COVID-19 vaccination. Moreover, there was a significant
variation in the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy among certain
population subgroups. (Figure 1) Higher proportions of vaccine hesitancy
was observed among males (p < 0.001), those aged between 45
and 59 years (p < 0.001) and lower levels of self-reported QoL
(p = 0.05). Other characteristics, such as levels of schooling,
self-perceived health status, type of healthcare assistance, and
personal history of past COVID-19 infection or among household familiars
were not significantly associated with variations in vaccine hesitancy.
Those who responded resistant to COVID-19 vaccination were predominantly
males (71.1%), within the age range of 30 and 59 years (79%). About
three-fourths of them had professional training (73.7%), reported a
very good to excellent self-perceived health status (76.3%) and had no
personal history of previous infection by COVID-19 (78.9%) nor among
household familiars (68.4%). Notably, when assessed for their reasons
for vaccine hesitancy the responses were mainly due to uncertainties
about the safety (57.9%) and efficacy (36.8%) of the vaccines,
followed by concerns about how they were developed i.e., problem of
timing and the adoption of a new development technology (28.9%),
contraindications for health reasons (10.5%) and personal history of
COVID-19 infection (7.9%). No significant differences for reasons for
the vaccine hesitancy between population subgroups.