Factors influencing COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and hesitancy among rural community in Bangladesh: A cross-sectional survey based study

Abstract

Although more than one hundred million beneficiaries were administered COVID-19 vaccine until 20th February, 2022 in Bangladesh; however, proportionally a low turnout has been recorded in rural places and a substantial gap exist among the people living in rural and urban areas concerning the ratio of receiving vaccine. This study aims to investigate COVID-19 vaccine acceptance intention and to identify the potential factors influencing vaccine acceptance and hesitancy among the rural community in Bangladesh. A bilingual, self-administered anonymous questionnaire was developed, and data were collected between 10th June 2021 and 14th August 2021 through face-to-face interview. 655 rural people participated in this cross-sectional study, and sampling was done randomly. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regressions were used to explore and rationalize study objectives. Out of 655 rural participants, 552 (84.3%, 95% CI 81.2─86.8) responded to accept COVID-19 vaccine; however, minor fractions (n = 5, n% = 0.8, 95% CI 0.12–1.4) of rural community had willingness to pay (WTP) for a COVID-19 vaccine. The result of binary regression showed that “safety,” “side effects,” “effectiveness,” and “trust” had highly significant (p