Addressing vaccine concerns through the spectrum of vaccine acceptance

Rationale/objective: Several studies have examined attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines, giving prominence to hesitancy and conceptual models that seek to explain its prevalence, mostly in high-income contexts. An alternative conceptual approach that prioritises an understanding of vaccine concerns, the rationality of the questions people have, the political and media ecologies that raise them, will help recommend ways in which such concerns can be addressed. This current study employs the Spectrum of Vaccine Acceptance as a conceptual framework to explain vaccine concerns, in a low-income context.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was designed by drawing on the extant literature on indirect impacts of COVID-19 pandemic. The survey was administered face to face to a stratified random sample of 459 healthcare professionals in Uganda, from 1st to July 31, 2021. Key findings from the survey were explored using focus group interviews. Descriptive analysis was performed to quantify key responses on socio-demographic characteristics, feelings and views about COVID-19 and vaccines. Qualitative themes from the survey and focus groups were explained through the framework of the Spectrum of Vaccine Acceptance.

Results: Vaccine acceptance was the most dominant attitude among healthcare professionals, with 74.9% of all respondents (N = 224) having been vaccinated. The findings highlight a relationship between vaccine acceptance, vaccine questioning and vaccine hesitancy, in that nearly 60% (N = 127) of those that were already vaccinated had several concerns about the vaccines they had received, suggesting that questions do not necessarily equate to refusal. This led to a partial reframing of the Spectrum of Vaccine Acceptance.

Conclusion: Factors which determine and differentiate vaccine concerns among healthcare professionals in a low-income context show that rational concerns far outweigh non-sensical and conspiratorial views. The findings will act as a useful input into the importance of understanding and addressing vaccine concerns, and the role of managing information voids in pandemic management.