Attitudes and practices against COVID-19 vaccines in Turkiye

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Vaccination is the primary way to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccine hesitancy and refusal are one of the most important challenges against to reach herd immunity. The aim of this study is to examine the reasons for not get-ting vaccinated and the attitudes toward vaccines by people in Turkiye, who were not vaccinated, even though a COVID-19 vaccine was available for them. METHODS: This cross-sectional study is conducted in Eyupsultan district of Istanbul. The study population is 12,540. A questionnaire consisted of three sections as sociodemographic characteristics, attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines, and Vaccination Attitudes Examination (VAX) scale was used. Among the sample size, participation rate is 69.4%. RESULTS: About 50.2% of the participants (n=259) are male, 80.3% are married, 13.1% are university graduates, and 44.0% are working in a job. About 32.8% of the participants have COVID-19 history. About 34.4% of the participants stated that they would be vaccinated against COVID-19. Although those who define themselves as vaccine refuser are 5.4%, those who still refuse to be vaccinated for COVID-19 are 20.1%. In addition to this, those who are hesitant about COVID-19 vaccines are 45.6%. The most frequently preferred vaccine is comirnaty (41.7%). About 13.1% of the participants stated that “if we had a domestic COVID-19 vaccine, I would have it.” The most common sources of information about vaccines are television with 78.4%, and health workers are in the last place with 14.7%. “Concerns about side effects” are the most frequently cited (85.9%) reason for not vaccinating. The mean score of the VAX scale is 42.34±10.93, and the “mistrust of vaccine benefit” is higher among primary school graduates than other educational status groups (p=0.001). CONCLUSION: Anti-vaccination attitudes have increased with the COVID-19 vaccines during pandemic. Our study is valu-able in terms of examining the reasons of individuals who have not gotten vaccinated even though they had no access prob-lems. Prominent concerns of the population should be approached seriously. Otherwise, vaccine hesitancy can be a decisive factor that would prevent the success of the struggle against pandemic.