Publication:
COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: A narrative review of four South Asian countries

dc.contributor.authorEnnab, Farah
dc.contributor.authorZary, Nabil
dc.contributor.authorNawaz, Faisal A.
dc.date.accessioned2023-05-08T06:47:54Z
dc.date.available2023-05-08T06:47:54Z
dc.date.issued2022
dc.description.abstractObjectives: Vaccine hesitancy remains a global issue, especially within poverty-stricken countries where there’s an interplay of financial and nonfinancial barriers. This narrative review aims to understand attitudes and behaviors toward COVID-19 vaccination in four South Asian countries and make context-specific recommendations to vaccine program drivers and decision-makers. Methods: A search was conducted using PubMed and Science Direct, and CINHAL from January 2020 up to May 2022 restricted to the English language for terms: “Afghanistan” OR “Pakistan” OR “India” OR “Bangladesh” in combination with “COVID-19 vaccine” and other related terms. All articles were initially included, and those with relevance were included in the synthesis of this paper. Results: A narrative review was performed for this study. Our narrative review included a total of eighteen studies with a sample size (n = 223–5,237) averaging about 1,325 participants per study conducted. The studies included revealed public hesitancy to receive the COVID-19 vaccine ranging from 6.3 to 56.2% with an average of 31.63% across all eighteen studies. Several reasons were linked to this observation in these four South Asian countries, and the predominant ones included: Insufficient information provided to the general public about the side effects of the vaccines, concerns regarding vaccine safety, and skepticism of vaccine efficacy. Conclusion: Vaccine hesitancy is a global problem within the context of COVID-19, and issues regarding equity, misinformation, and poverty in South Asian countries makes it di cult to meet goals for herd immunity. Policymakers and governments should aim toward financial and non-financial incentives to drive the public toward vaccination.en_US
dc.identifier.other204-2022.156
dc.identifier.urihttps://repository.mbru.ac.ae/handle/1/1208
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.subjectCOVID-19en_US
dc.subjectVaccine Hesitancyen_US
dc.subjectPublic Perspectivesen_US
dc.subjectPublic Opinionen_US
dc.subjectSouth Asiaen_US
dc.titleCOVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: A narrative review of four South Asian countriesen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dspace.entity.typePublicationen_US

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