Association between health and safety perceptions of COVID-19 vaccine and its uptake in Ghana

Simon Appah Aram; John Elvis Hagan Jr; George Kweku Afriyie Mansoh; Benjamin M Saalidong; Patrick Osei Lartey; Bright Opoku Ahinkorah; Abdul-Aziz Seidu; Edward Kwabena Ameyaw; Augustine Appiah; Divine Worlanyor Hotor; Justice Gyimah

doi:10.1002/puh2.20

Association between health and safety perceptions of COVID-19 vaccine and its uptake in Ghana

Public Health Chall. 2022 Dec;1(4):e20. doi: 10.1002/puh2.20. Epub 2022 Oct 13.

Affiliations

¹ College of Safety and Emergency Management Engineering Taiyuan University of Technology Taiyuan People's Republic of China.
² Department of Health Physical Education, and Recreation, University of Cape Coast, PMB Cape Coast Ghana.
³ Neurocognition and Action-Biomechanics-Research Group, Faculty of Psychology and Sport Sciences Bielefeld University Bielefeld Germany.
⁴ Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Kumasi Ghana.
⁵ Department of Geoscience and Engineering Taiyuan University of Technology Taiyuan People's Republic of China.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Interface Science and Engineering in Advanced Materials, Ministry of Education Taiyuan University of Technology Taiyuan People's Republic of China.
⁷ School of Public Health University of Technology Sydney Sydney Australia.
⁸ Centre for Gender and Advocacy Takoradi Technical University Takoradi Ghana.
⁹ College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences James Cook University Townsville Australia.
¹⁰ CSIR Water Research Institute Accra Ghana.
¹¹ College of Economics and Management Taiyuan University of Technology Taiyuan People's Republic of China.

PMID: 37519313
PMCID: PMC9874404
DOI: 10.1002/puh2.20

Abstract

Background: Attitudes towards vaccines have affected COVID-19 vaccination programs in many countries. This study sought to evaluate the effects of general perceptions on the safety and health concerns and the confidence in COVID-19 vaccines on its uptake in Ghana.

Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted between January and March 2021. The outcome variables for this study were "Taking mandatory COVID-19 vaccine" and "Taking voluntary COVID-19 vaccine". The data were subjected to both descriptive (frequency, percentages, and chi-square tests) and inferential (complementary log-log logistic regression) analyses.

Results: Out of 620 Ghanians who participated in the survey, about 80% of the participants believed that vaccines were good for one's health and 73% had confidence on COVID-19 vaccine safety; although 81% of the respondents were particularly concerned about the source of the vaccine. 79% and 71% of respondents indicated their willingness for mandatory and voluntary COVID-19 vaccination, respectively. In all operationalized regression models, Ghanaians who believed that vaccines are healthy (OR = 1.998, Cl = 1.345-2.968; OR = 1.652, Cl = 1.050-2.601) and those who had confidence in a COVID-19 vaccine safety (OR = 4.405, Cl = 3.136-6.188; OR = 8.340, Cl = 5.471-12.713) were more likely to take a mandatory or voluntary COVID-19 vaccine compared to those who thought and believed otherwise. Individual preferences and/or intentions towards COVID-19 vaccine uptake and uptake route (i.e., mandatory, voluntary) were influenced by multifaceted determinants: biosocial (age, marital status, education), socio-cultural (religion, source of vaccine as a concern), and location (geographical zone) factors.

Conclusion: To consolidate and possibly increase vaccine uptake in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana, health education and promotion programs should aim at creating awareness on the benefits of vaccine uptake while addressing the health and safety concerns on the potential side effects through evidence-based community messaging from credible sources. It is important to show specific commitment to transparency and reliable information to build public trust by decision-makers.

Keywords: Ghana; health; mandatory vaccination; safety; vaccine uptake; voluntary vaccination.