COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and its enablers shape community uptake of non-covid vaccines such as the oral cholera vaccine (OCV) in the post-COVID-19 era. This study assessed the impact of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and its drivers on OCV hesitancy in a cholera-endemic region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. We conducted a community-based survey in Bukavu. The survey included demographics, intention to take OCV and COVID-19 vaccines, reasons for COVID-19 hesitancy, and thoughts and feelings about COVID-19 vaccines. Poisson regression analyses were performed. Of the 1708 respondents, 84.66% and 77.57% were hesitant to OCV alone and to both OCV and COVID-19, respectively. Hesitancy to COVID-19 vaccines rose OCV hesitancy by 12% (crude prevalence ratio, [cPR] = 1.12, 95%CI [1.03-1.21]). Independent predictors of OCV hesitancy were living in a semi-urban area (adjusted prevalence ratio [aPR] = 1.10, 95%CI [1.03-1.12]), religious refusal of vaccines (aPR = 1.06, 95%CI [1.02-1.12]), concerns about vaccine safety (aPR = 1.05, 95%CI [1.01-1.11]) and adverse effects (aPR = 1.06, 95%CI [1.01-1.12]), as well as poor vaccine literacy (aPR = 1.07, 95%CI [1.01-1.14]). Interestingly, the belief in COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness reduced OCV hesitancy by 24% (aPR = 0.76, 95%CI [0.62-0.93]). COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and its drivers exhibited a significant domino effect on OCV uptake. Addressing vaccine hesitancy through community-based health literacy and trust-building interventions would likely improve the introduction of novel non-COVID-19 vaccines in the post-COVID-19 era.
Keywords: South Kivu; Vibrio cholerae; immunization; non-COVID-19 vaccine; vaccine misinformation.