Factors Driving COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Cameroon and Their Implications for Africa: A Comparison of Two Cross-Sectional Studies Conducted 19 Months Apart in 2020 and 2022
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Cameroon Demographics and Health System
2.2. Study Design
Data Collection
2.3. Sample Size
2.4. Statistical Analysis
2.5. Ethical Statement
3. Results
3.1. Socio-Demographic Characteristics
3.2. COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Cohort Analysis
3.3. COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance Cohort Analysis
3.4. Consumption of Traditional Herbal Remedies to Control COVID-19 Infection
3.5. Comparative Analysis of the Present Study with an Earlier Study Carried out in 2020 [4]
3.6. Model Diagnostics and Predicted vs. Observed
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
5.1. Strength of the Study
- The questionnaire was pretested before the commencement of the actual study.
- The study has a large sample size.
- People who have already taken a vaccine and those intending to were included in the study.
- A wide range of variables was assessed.
- Factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy were identified by comparing two studies carried out at two different time points.
- Implementation of a vaccine hesitancy surveillance programme is feasible and beneficial.
- A thorough statistical analysis was performed on the data collected.
- Lessons could be translated to other diseases, not only in Cameroon but also in Africa and beyond.
5.2. Weaknesses of the Study
- Themes from the open-ended questions’ answers were manually retrieved.
- The factors being compared from the two studies were identified using two different approaches.
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
AfVANET | African Vaccinology Network |
COVAX | Coronavirus diseases-19 Vaccines Global Access |
COVID-19 | Coronavirus diseases |
EPI | Expanded Programme on Immunization |
VH | Vaccine hesitancy |
WHO | World Health Organization |
XAF | Central African franc |
Appendix A. Study Questionnaire
- 1
- Region of Residence:*
- 2
- Residential area:*
- 3
- Gender:*
- 4
- Age group:*
- 5
- Occupation: *
- 6
- Level of education: *
- 7
- Income: *
- 8
- Would you consent to take a covid-19 vaccine? *
- 9
- Reasons for accepting a COVID-19 vaccine. *
- 10
- Reasons for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy:* (if applicable, choose more than one)
- 11
- Do you take any traditional herbal remedies against COVID-19?*
- 12
- What traditional herbal remedies do you use against COVID-19? *
- 13
- Have you ever tested positive or know anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19?*
- 14
- Do you have any chronic illness or comorbidity?*
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Independent Variable | Level | Number (Percentage %) | p-Value for COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance Using Chi-Square | p-Value for COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Using Chi-Square |
---|---|---|---|---|
Region of Residence | Adamaoua | 413 (6.1) | ns | <0.0001 |
Centre | 651 (9.7) | |||
East | 536 (8.0) | |||
Far North | 437 (6.5) | |||
Littoral | 431 (6.4) | |||
North | 769 (11.4) | |||
West | 424 (6.3) | |||
South | 389 (5.8) | |||
South West | 1535 (22.8) | ns | <0.0001 | |
North West | 1147 (17.0) | |||
Residential Setting | Rural | 2945 (43.7) | ns | <0.0001 |
Urban | 3787 (56.3) | ns | <0.0001 | |
Gender | Male | 2981 (44.3) | ||
Female | 3751 (55.7) | <0.0001 | <0.0001 | |
Age Group | 18–30 years | 2162 (32.1) | <0.0001 | ns |
31–50 years | 2084 (31.0) | <0.0001 | ns | |
51 years and above | 2486 (36.9) | ns | <0.0001 | |
Occupation | Business/Informal sector | 1540 (22.9) | ns | <0.0001 |
Education sector | 633 (9.4) | ns | <0.0001 | |
Engineering/Technician | 1183 (17.6) | ns | <0.0001 | |
Healthcare personnel | 1125 (16.7) | <0.0001 | ||
Jobless/Student | 1753 (26.0) | ns | <0.0001 | |
Politics/Policy-maker/Administration | 498 (7.4) | ns | <0.0001 | |
Income Level | Low income (below 200,000 XAF ($321)/month) | 4382 (65.1) | ns | <0.0001 |
Middle income (200,001–500,000 XAF ($322–$803)/month) | 2284 (33.9) | ns | <0.0001 | |
High income (above 500,000 XAF (above $803)/month) | 66 (1.0) | ns | ns | |
Education Level | No Education/Primary Education | 1149 (17.1) | ns | <0.0001 |
Secondary/High School level/Professional training | 2868 (42.6) | ns | <0.0001 | |
University level | 2715 (40.3) | ns | ns | |
Traditional herbal remedies? | No | 2823 (41.9) | ns | <0.0001 |
Yes | 3909 (58.1) | ns | <0.0001 | |
COVID-19 Infection? | No | 3211 (47.7) | ns | <0.0001 |
Yes | 3521 (52.3) | ns | <0.0001 | |
Chronic illness/Comorbidity? | No | 6443 (95.7) | ns | ns |
Yes | 289 (4.3) | <0.0001 | <0.0001 |
Characteristics | Dinga and Colleagues [4] | Present Study | |
---|---|---|---|
1. | No. of participants | 2512 | 6732 |
Male | 45.1% | 44.3% | |
Female | 54.9% | 55.7% | |
2. | Vaccine Hesitancy | 86.4% | 64.6% |
3. | Vaccine Acceptance | Not assessed | 35.4% |
4. | Factors Associated with Vaccine Hesitancy |
|
|
5. | Two Major Reasons for Vaccine Hesitancy | Not assessed |
|
6. | Factors associated with Vaccine Acceptance | Not assessed |
|
7. | Two Major Reasons for Vaccine Acceptance | Not assessed |
|
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Dinga, J.N.; Njoh, A.A.; Gamua, S.D.; Muki, S.E.; Titanji, V.P.K. Factors Driving COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Cameroon and Their Implications for Africa: A Comparison of Two Cross-Sectional Studies Conducted 19 Months Apart in 2020 and 2022. Vaccines 2022, 10, 1401. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10091401
Dinga JN, Njoh AA, Gamua SD, Muki SE, Titanji VPK. Factors Driving COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Cameroon and Their Implications for Africa: A Comparison of Two Cross-Sectional Studies Conducted 19 Months Apart in 2020 and 2022. Vaccines. 2022; 10(9):1401. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10091401
Chicago/Turabian StyleDinga, Jerome Nyhalah, Andreas Ateke Njoh, Stanley Dobgima Gamua, Synthia Eni Muki, and Vincent P. K. Titanji. 2022. "Factors Driving COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Cameroon and Their Implications for Africa: A Comparison of Two Cross-Sectional Studies Conducted 19 Months Apart in 2020 and 2022" Vaccines 10, no. 9: 1401. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10091401
APA StyleDinga, J. N., Njoh, A. A., Gamua, S. D., Muki, S. E., & Titanji, V. P. K. (2022). Factors Driving COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Cameroon and Their Implications for Africa: A Comparison of Two Cross-Sectional Studies Conducted 19 Months Apart in 2020 and 2022. Vaccines, 10(9), 1401. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10091401