Global disparities in COVID-19 vaccine booster dose (VBD) acceptance and hesitancy: An updated narrative review

Debendra Nath Roy; Nowrin Ferdiousi; Md Mohabbot Hossen; Ekramul Islam; Md Shah Azam

doi:10.1016/j.jvacx.2024.100480

Global disparities in COVID-19 vaccine booster dose (VBD) acceptance and hesitancy: An updated narrative review

Vaccine X. 2024 Mar 23:18:100480. doi: 10.1016/j.jvacx.2024.100480. eCollection 2024 Jun.

Authors

Debendra Nath Roy^{1

2}, Nowrin Ferdiousi³, Md Mohabbot Hossen⁴, Ekramul Islam⁵, Md Shah Azam^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacy, Jashore University of Science and Technology, Jashore 7408, Bangladesh.
² Institute of Education and Research, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi 6205, Bangladesh.
³ Department of Pharmacy, Mawlana Bhasani Science and Technology University, Tangail 1902, Bangladesh.
⁴ Pharmacy Discipline, Khulna University, Bangladesh.
⁵ Department of Pharmacy, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi 6205, Bangladesh.
⁶ Department of Marketing, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi 6205, Bangladesh.
⁷ Office of the Viec-Chancellor, Rabindra University, Bangladesh.

Abstract

The global deployment of COVID-19 vaccine booster dose (VBD) has been recognized as a promising therapeutic alliance to provide repeated immunity against the arrival of new variants. Despite scientific evidence supports the effectiveness of periodic doses, COVID-19 vaccine booster reluctance continues to thrive. This narrative review aimed to examine global COVID-19 vaccine booster dose (VBD) acceptance and summarize an up-to-date assessment of potential antecedents associated with VBD acceptance. A comprehensive search was performed in several reputable databases such as Medline (via PubMed), Scopus, Google scholar, and Web of Science from June 10th, 2023, to August 1st, 2023. All relevant descriptive and observational studies on COVID-19 VBD acceptance and hesitancy were included in this review. A total of fifty-eight (58) studies were included, with Asia representing the highest count with thirty-one (53%) studies, Europe with eleven (19 %), the United States with nine (16 %), and other regions (Africa and multi-ethnic) with seven (12 %). Worldwide, the pooled COVID-19 VBD acceptance rate was 77.09 % (95 % CI: 76.28-78.18), VBD willingness (n) = 164189, and the total sample (N) = 212,990. The highest and the lowest VBD acceptance rate was reported in Europe and American regions, respectively, 85.38 % (95 % CI: 85.02-85.73, (n) = 32,047, (N = 37,533) vs. 66.92 % (95 % CI: 66.56-67.4), (n) = 29335, (N) = 43,832. However, Asia and multi-ethnic areas reported moderately high VBD acceptance rate 79.13 % (95 % CI: 78.77-79.23, (n) = 93,994, (N) = 11,8779) and 72.16 % (95 % CI: 71.13-72.93, (n) = 9276, (N) = 12,853), respectively. The most common and key antecedents of COVID-19 VBD acceptance and hesitancy across the countries were "equal safety", "efficacy", "effectiveness", "post-vaccination side effects", "community protection" "family protection", "risk-benefit ratio", "booster necessity", "trust", and "variants control". Disparities in the uptake of COVID-19 VBD were observed globally, with the highest rates found in Europe, and the lowest rates in American regions. Multiple potential antecedents including safety, efficacy, and post-vaccination side effects were associated with VBD acceptance and hesitancy.

Keywords: Acceptance; Global, COVID-19; Hesitancy; Vaccine booster.

Publication types

Review