COVID-19 Vaccination and Gaps in India

Abstract

INTRODUCTION The important variables that influence how many people are vaccinated against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in India include vaccine skepticism, socioeconomic status, and multi-dimensional deprivation. Our preliminary research suggests that uncertainty about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine has a large and detrimental effect on immunization rates. MATERIALS AND METHODS The Crucial Subsets Survey (CSS) is performed daily on Facebook to recruit participants for cross-section surveys by academic institutions, the Delphi Research Center, and the University of Maryland's Joint Program in Survey Methodology. Facebook will notify a portion of its daily users to take a vote. CSS adds behavior, attitude toward policy and preventive measures, economic consequences, and critical indicators to official reporting data. RESULTS It has been estimated that a 30% drop in vaccination coverage may be attributed to a 1% rise in vaccine skepticism. Similarly, higher rates of multidimensional poverty are associated with lower rates of COVID-19 vaccine coverage. When the multidimensional poverty index (MPI), or the percentage of persons living in extreme poverty, rises by one unit, immunization rates fall by around half. It suggests that higher rates of socioeconomic hardship have unfavorable effects on health outcomes like vaccination rates. We also showed that gender is a major factor in influencing how internet availability affects vaccination rates and hesitation. We discovered that male vaccination rates went up in tandem with male internet use. This might be because of the digital divide and India's reliance on digital technologies like the COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (COWIN), AAROGYA SETU, and Imphal, India, to assign and register for COVID-19 vaccinations, while males have greater digital excess than females. While male internet access is significantly and positively correlated with coverage, female internet access is significantly and negatively correlated with coverage. Women are less likely to seek medical care and have more vaccination reluctance than men, both of which contribute to this trend. CONCLUSION The government's strategy for disseminating information about the COVID-19 vaccination should prioritize reaching out to women. In order to recruit more women to vaccination clinics, it is important to raise public awareness about the need for immunization among women via the media and community outreach.