COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in a Representative Education Sector Population in Qatar

Even though vaccination programs have now started in earnest across the globe and in Qatar, vaccine hesitancy remains a barrier to effectively tackling the pandemic. Many factors influence willingness to take vaccines including safety, efficacy, and side effects. Given their proximity to research and education, university students and employees represent an interesting cohort in which to investigate vaccine hesitancy. The aim of this study was to assess the attitudes of Qatar University employees and students towards the COVID-19 vaccine. In total, 231 employees and 231 students participated in an online cross-sectional study in February 2021. Of the sample, 62.6% were willing to take a vaccine against COVID-19. Participants with or taking postgraduate degrees were more willing to take the vaccine compared to participants with or taking a diploma or bachelor’s degree (p < 0.001). Males had a higher rate of vaccine acceptance (p < 0.001). In the group that regarded flu vaccination as important, 13% were unwilling to take COVID-19 vaccine. There were no associations between willingness to vaccinate and vaccine/virus knowledge and social media use. Participants showed a high level of concern regarding vaccine side effects in themselves or their children. Two-thirds agreed or strongly agreed that they would take the vaccine if it was mandatory for international travel. Our participants were neutral to the origin of vaccine development. These findings, which represent data collected after the start of the national vaccination program, show that vaccine hesitancy persists in the Qatari population and that some groups, such as undergraduate students, could benefit from specific, targeted public health campaigns.

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Early COVID-19 Vaccination of Romanian Medical and Social Personnel

Vaccines ◽

10.3390/vaccines9101127 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (10) ◽

pp. 1127

Author(s):

Loredana Sabina Cornelia Manolescu ◽

Corneliu Nicolae Zaharia ◽

Anca Irina Dumitrescu ◽

Irina Prasacu ◽

Mihaela Corina Radu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

General Population ◽

Medical Profession ◽

Geographic Area ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Vaccine Virus ◽

Medical Doctor ◽

Vaccine Hesitancy ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Vaccine Acceptance ◽

First Choice

Background: In December 2020, the first doses of COVID-19 vaccines arrived in Romania and were made available to medical and social staff. Vaccine hesitancy appeared as a barrier to effectively ending the pandemic. The opinions of medical and social staff influence the opinion of the general population. This study assesess the attitudes, knowledge, and opinion of medical and social personnel toward COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination and the influencing factors. Methods: 1025 persons participated in an online cross-sectional study from March until July 2021. Results: Out of 1021 eligible responders, 719 (70.42%) had been vaccinated: 227 with one dose (22.23%) and 492 with two doses (48.18%). There were 302 responders who were not vaccinated at all. Out of them, 188 refused vaccinations. The participants showed a good understanding and knowledge of SARScoV-2 transmission and treatment. Geographic area, medical profession, and medical experience influenced COVID-19 vaccination (p < 0.001). There were no associations between willingness to vaccinate and vaccine/virus knowledge. Most of the responders who were vaccinated or wanted to be vaccinated indicated an mRNA vaccine as their first choice. The variables that were significantly associated with reporting COVID-19 vaccine acceptance after logistic regression were: living in an urban area (Ora = 1.58, 95% CI: 0.98–2.56), being female (Ora = 1.59; 95% CI:1.03–2.44), and being a medical doctor (Ora = 3.40; 95% CI: 1.84–6.26). Conclusions: These findings show that vaccine hesitancy persists in medical and social personnel in Romania, and, hence, it may be reflected in the hesitancy of the general population toward vaccination.

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Parent’s Perspective towards Child COVID-19 Vaccination: An Online Cross-Sectional Study in Mexico

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph19010290 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

pp. 290

Author(s):

Juan Luis Delgado-Gallegos ◽

Gerardo R. Padilla-Rivas ◽

Lilia Julieta Gastelum-Arias ◽

Erika Zuñiga-Violante ◽

Gener Avilés-Rodríguez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Adverse Effects ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Vaccine Hesitancy ◽

Design Strategies ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Vaccine Acceptance ◽

Vaccination Programs ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Stepwise Method ◽

Significant Factors

COVID-19 vaccination programs continue in child populations. Thus, parents’ attitude towards COVID-19 vaccination of their children is crucial for these strategies to succeed. The present study derives from the application of an online COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance & Hesitancy Questionnaire (COV-AHQ) in which we measure parent’s hesitancy towards children’s vaccination (section 4 of the COV-AHQ) and other significant factors. A logistic regression analysis with backward stepwise method was used to quantify the associations between factors and parent’s hesitancy. According to the correlation analysis, the most representative factors predicting vaccine hesitancy/acceptance were positive attitude towards vaccination, parents believing that the COVID-19 vaccine will enhance the economic situation of the country, parents actively researching information, having the willingness to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine themselves, and the possibility of their children developing adverse effects. Our findings also showed that parents are highly interested in having their children vaccinated. Nonetheless, parents expressed high levels of concern involving their children in developing adverse effects from the vaccine. In addition, obtaining influenza immunization prompted interest in obtaining the COVID-19 vaccine, and younger-aged parents are much more concerned with having their children vaccinated. Therefore, in order to ensure successful vaccination programs, policymakers and health authorities should design strategies to gain confidence and provide security amongst the population, including giving continuous information about the benefits of vaccination and presenting the frequency of side effects to bring parents on board with vaccinating their children.

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COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy among University Students in Lebanon

10.21203/rs.3.rs-725775/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Mirna Bou Hamdan ◽

Shipra Singh ◽

Mounika Polavarapu ◽

Timothy Jordan ◽

Nada Melhem

Keyword(s):

Undergraduate Students ◽

Reference Group ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Vaccine Hesitancy ◽

P Value ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

American University ◽

Residency Status ◽

Acceptance Rates ◽

Social Marketing Campaigns

Abstract Background Lebanon has one of the lowest reported COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rates (21%). Little is known about the decision-making process of college students in Lebanon regarding obtaining a COVID-19 vaccination. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify factors that predicted the behavioral intentions of students enrolled at the American University of Beirut (AUB), Lebanon to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine. Methods The study was a randomized, non-experimental, and cross-sectional study of undergraduate and graduate students. A valid and reliable survey was developed. A total of 3,805 students were randomly selected to participate from all academic units. A total of 800 students responded (21% return rate). Results We generated three groups based on students’ intentions to be vaccinated: 1) vaccine accepting (those who are willing to take or already took the vaccine); 2) vaccine hesitant (those who are hesitant to take the vaccine); and 3) vaccine resistant (those who decided not to take the vaccine). The majority were Lebanese (85%), undergraduate students (75%), females (57%) with a mean age of 21 ± 0.14 years. Overall, students were vaccine accepting. Specifically, they were vaccine accepting (87%), vaccine hesitant (10%), and vaccine resistant (3%). Vaccine hesitancy was significantly associated with nationality, residency status and university rank (p value < 0.05). Moreover, there was a significant association between hesitancy and agreement with conspiracies. A significant factor for hesitancy was disagreement with the statement that symptomatic cases are the only carriers of COVID-19 (OR = 5; 95% CI = 1.67–14.29; p value = 0.004). Students believed that that the vaccine was safe (OR = 0.01; 95% CI = 0.002–0.08; p value = 0.000); in agreement with their personal views (OR = 0.1; 95% CI = 0.02–0.51; p value = 0.004) and were less likely to be hesitant than the vaccine accepting group (reference group). Conclusion The factors identified that explain and/or predict each of the three vaccine intention groups can be used as core content for health communication and social marketing campaigns to increase the rate of COVID-19 vaccination.

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Understanding COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Pakistan: The paradigm of Confidence, Convenience and Complacency; A Cross-sectional study.

10.1101/2021.07.12.21260409 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Naveen Siddique Sheikh ◽

Mumtaz Touseef ◽

Riddah Sultan ◽

Kanwal Hassan Cheema ◽

Sidra Shafiq Cheema ◽

...

Keyword(s):

General Population ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Herd Immunity ◽

Population Data ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Vaccine Uptake ◽

Vaccine Hesitancy ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Vaccination Programs

Background and objectives: Vaccine hesitancy is a big obstacle for vaccination programs, as is anticipated for the COVID-19 vaccination program, resulting in low uptake of vaccines thereby hindering the process of reaching herd immunity. Bearing this in mind the current study was aimed to explore the determinants of vaccine hesitancy amongst the Pakistani population. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was carried out from the 23rd-31st January 2021. The conceptual framework of the study was based on the 3Cs (Confidence, Convenience, Complacency) model. Google-forms-based questionnaire was disseminated amongst the general population. Data collected were entered into SPSS version 26 and analyzed. Results: Of the 421 participants, 68.4% were females. Non-healthcare workers were 55.8% of respondents. Vaccine hesitant individuals, 26.13% reported they were very unlikely to get vaccinated. Vaccine was not safe as it came out too fast was agreed upon by 12.6% individuals, 50.6% were worried about experiencing side-effects, 18% believed vaccine will not offer protection and 5.9% believed vaccine would cause death. Low Practice of SOP in non-Healthcare workers was the strongest contributor to vaccine hesitancy (OR: 5.338, p=0.040, 95% CI: 1.082-26.330) followed by High complacency (p=0.026) and Moderate Complacency (OR: 0.212, p=0.007, 95% CI: 0.069-0.654) towards COVID-19 vaccination. In Healthcare workers the strongest contributor to vaccine hesitancy was having a Moderate Confidence (OR: 0.323, p=0.042, 95% CI: 0.109-0.958) in the vaccine followed by Moderate Convenience (OR: 0.304, p=0.049, 95% CI: 0.093-0.993) for vaccination Conclusion: Campaigning and communication strategies to reaffirm confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine and educating the general population about the vaccine could lead to increased perception of vaccine safety and effectiveness thereby restoring confidence in vaccine and decreasing vaccine hesitancy. Likewise, working to increase vaccine convenience and decreasing complacency towards the COVID-19 vaccine would translate into high vaccine uptake.

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Prevalence and Risk Factors of CoronaVac Side Effects: An Independent Cross-Sectional Study among Healthcare Workers in Turkey

Journal of Clinical Medicine ◽

10.3390/jcm10122629 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (12) ◽

pp. 2629

Author(s):

Abanoub Riad ◽

Derya Sağıroğlu ◽

Batuhan Üstün ◽

Andrea Pokorná ◽

Jitka Klugarová ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Side Effects ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Age Groups ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Vaccine Hesitancy ◽

Public Confidence ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Increased Risk

Background: COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is a serious threat to mass vaccination strategies that need to be accelerated currently in order to achieve a substantial level of community immunity. Independent (non-sponsored) studies have a great potential to enhance public confidence in vaccines and accelerate their uptake process. Methods: A nationwide cross-sectional study for the side effects (SE) of CoronaVac was carried out in February 2021 among Turkish healthcare workers who were recently vaccinated. The questionnaire inquired about local and systemic SEs that occurred in the short-term, within four weeks, following vaccination. Results: A total of 780 healthcare workers were included in this study; 62.5% of them experienced at least one SE. Injection site pain (41.5%) was the most common local SE, while fatigue (23.6%), headache (18.7%), muscle pain (11.2%) and joint pain (5.9%) were the common systemic SEs. Female healthcare workers (67.9%) were significantly more affected by local and systemic SEs than male colleagues (51.4%). Younger age, previous infection, and compromised health status (chronic illnesses and regular medicines uptake) can be associated with an increased risk of CoronaVac SEs; Conclusions: The independent research shows a higher prevalence of CoronaVac SEs than what is reported by phase I–III clinical trials. In general, the results of this study confirm the overall safety of CoronaVac and suggest potential risk factors for its SEs. Gender-based differences and SEs distribution among age groups are worth further investigation.

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Side Effects and Perceptions Following COVID-19 Vaccination in Jordan: A Randomized, Cross-Sectional Study Implementing Machine Learning for Predicting Severity of Side Effects

Vaccines ◽

10.3390/vaccines9060556 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (6) ◽

pp. 556

Author(s):

Ma’mon M. Hatmal ◽

Mohammad A. I. Al-Hatamleh ◽

Amin N. Olaimat ◽

Malik Hatmal ◽

Dina M. Alhaj-Qasem ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Machine Learning ◽

Side Effects ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Vaccine Hesitancy ◽

Medical Attention ◽

Gradient Boosting ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Post Vaccination ◽

Extreme Gradient Boosting

Background: Since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic, there was no doubt that vaccination is the ideal protocol to tackle it. Within a year, a few COVID-19 vaccines have been developed and authorized. This unparalleled initiative in developing vaccines created many uncertainties looming around the efficacy and safety of these vaccines. This study aimed to assess the side effects and perceptions following COVID-19 vaccination in Jordan. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted by distributing an online survey targeted toward Jordan inhabitants who received any COVID-19 vaccines. Data were statistically analyzed and certain machine learning (ML) tools, including multilayer perceptron (MLP), eXtreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), random forest (RF), and K-star were used to predict the severity of side effects. Results: A total of 2213 participants were involved in the study after receiving Sinopharm, AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, and other vaccines (38.2%, 31%, 27.3%, and 3.5%, respectively). Generally, most of the post-vaccination side effects were common and non-life-threatening (e.g., fatigue, chills, dizziness, fever, headache, joint pain, and myalgia). Only 10% of participants suffered from severe side effects; while 39% and 21% of participants had moderate and mild side effects, respectively. Despite the substantial variations between these vaccines in the presence and severity of side effects, the statistical analysis indicated that these vaccines might provide the same protection against COVID-19 infection. Finally, around 52.9% of participants suffered before vaccination from vaccine hesitancy and anxiety; while after vaccination, 95.5% of participants have advised others to get vaccinated, 80% felt more reassured, and 67% believed that COVID-19 vaccines are safe in the long term. Furthermore, based on the type of vaccine, demographic data, and side effects, the RF, XGBoost, and MLP gave both high accuracies (0.80, 0.79, and 0.70, respectively) and Cohen’s kappa values (0.71, 0.70, and 0.56, respectively). Conclusions: The present study confirmed that the authorized COVID-19 vaccines are safe and getting vaccinated makes people more reassured. Most of the post-vaccination side effects are mild to moderate, which are signs that body’s immune system is building protection. ML can also be used to predict the severity of side effects based on the input data; predicted severe cases may require more medical attention or even hospitalization.

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Correlation between Perceived Fear of COVID-19 Infection and Demand for COVID-19 Vaccination in Thailand: A Cross Sectional Study

International Journal of Science and Healthcare Research ◽

10.52403/ijshr.20210759 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 (3) ◽

pp. 345-349

Author(s):

Sompoom Sunpaweravong

Keyword(s):

Side Effects ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Lifestyle Changes ◽

Vaccine Hesitancy ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Socioeconomic Impacts ◽

The Public ◽

Risk Of Death ◽

Blood Clots ◽

Underlying Diseases

As the global COVID-19 pandemic became increasingly severe, the perceived fear of infection amongst the general population increased significantly. Many aspects of COVID-19 infection such as the ailment’s severe symptoms and risk of death contributed greatly to the collective fear surrounding this disease. The fear of infection resulted in lifestyle changes for many which in turn caused a great extent of socioeconomic impacts on both the regional and global level. Correlating closely to the fear of infection, vaccine related fear became a growing trend amongst the public. The majority of those fearing the vaccines were skeptical of its safety and risk of severe although rare side effects such as blood clots or convulsion not to mention the more common side effects such as high fevers that deterred a significant portion of the population from getting vaccinated. With these two closely related fears causing great effects on our society, our study decided to study the correlation and interaction between these two metrics. Through measuring both COVID-19 infection and vaccination fear of 351 subjects from diverse demographics, our study found many correlations between the perceived fear for COVID 19 infection, demand and reluctance for COVID 19 vaccination and other factors such as the age of the subject. Our study also took various measurements regarding the subjects involved in this study such as the subject’s age and underlying diseases that are known to augment the severity of COVID-19 symptoms such as Diabetes, underlying heart disease and lung diseases. After rigorous data analysis, the study found proportionate correlations between the levels of perceived fear of COVID-19 infection and the demand for vaccination. The demographics of participants (age and underlying diseases) were also found to have a correlative effect on the former measurements. Keywords: COVID-19 fear, vaccine hesitancy, COVID-19 risk factors.

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Does a Graduate Course in Fluency Disorders Make a Difference?

Perspectives on Fluency and Fluency Disorders ◽

10.1044/ffd20.1.10 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 10-14 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Evelyn R. Klein ◽

Barbara J. Amster

Keyword(s):

Undergraduate Students ◽

Graduate Programs ◽

The United States ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Graduate Course ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Fluency Disorders ◽

Introductory Course ◽

Communicative Disorders

Abstract A study by Yaruss and Quesal (2002), based on responses from 134 of 239 ASHA accredited graduate programs, indicated that approximately 25% of graduate programs in the United States allow students to earn their degree without having coursework in fluency disorders and 66% of programs allow students to graduate without clinical experience treating people who stutter (PWS). It is not surprising that many clinicians report discomfort in treating PWS. This cross-sectional study compares differences in beliefs about the cause of stuttering between freshman undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory course in communicative disorders and graduate students enrolled and in the final weeks of a graduate course in fluency disorders.

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Coping Style as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Depressive Symptoms and Deliberate Self-Harm

Crisis ◽

10.1027/0227-5910/a000083 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 32 (5) ◽

pp. 272-279 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Allison S. Christian ◽

Kristen M. McCabe

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Self Report ◽

Hierarchical Regression ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Deliberate Self Harm ◽

Self Blame ◽

Self Harm ◽

The Relationship

Background: Deliberate self-harm (DSH) occurs with high frequency among clinical and nonclinical youth populations. Although depression has been consistently linked with the behavior, not all depressed individuals engage in DSH. Aims: The current study examined maladaptive coping strategies (i.e., self-blame, distancing, and self-isolation) as mediators between depression and DSH among undergraduate students. Methods: 202 students from undergraduate psychology courses at a private university in Southern California (77.7% women) completed anonymous self-report measures. Results: A hierarchical regression model found no differences in DSH history across demographic variables. Among coping variables, self-isolation alone was significantly related to DSH. A full meditational model was supported: Depressive symptoms were significantly related to DSH, but adding self-isolation to the model rendered the relationship nonsignificant. Limitations: The cross-sectional study design prevents determination of whether a casual relation exists between self-isolation and DSH, and obscures the direction of that relationship. Conclusions: Results suggest targeting self-isolation as a means of DSH prevention and intervention among nonclinical, youth populations.

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Does Dispositional Mindfulness Predict the Development of Grit?

Journal of Individual Differences ◽

10.1027/1614-0001/a000252 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 39 (2) ◽

pp. 76-87 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Buaphrao Raphiphatthana ◽

Paul Jose ◽

Karen Salmon

Keyword(s):

Undergraduate Students ◽

Online Survey ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Self Report ◽

Dispositional Mindfulness ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Report Data ◽

Self Report Data ◽

Acting With Awareness ◽

Mindfulness Facets

Abstract. Grit, that is, perseverance and passion for long-term goals, is a novel construct that has gained attention in recent years ( Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007 ). To date, little research has been performed with the goal of identifying the antecedents of grit. Thus, in order to fill this gap in the literature, self-report data were collected to examine whether mindfulness, a mindset of being-in-the-present in a nonjudgmental way, plays a role in fostering grittiness. Three hundred and forty-three undergraduate students completed an online survey once in a cross-sectional study, and of these, 74 students completed the survey again 4.5 months later. Although the cross-sectional analyses identified a number of positive associations between mindfulness and grit, the longitudinal analysis revealed that the mindfulness facets of acting with awareness and non-judging were the most important positive predictors of grit 4.5 months later. This set of findings offers implications for future grit interventions.

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