Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccine Hesitancy in the Kurdistan Region: A Cross-Sectional National Survey.

ABSTRACT

It has been a few months since the first batch of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines arrived in the Kurdistan region, and the priority was given to health workers at the forefront of the treatment of COVID-19 patients. The rollout is slow, and there is little evidence to suggest that the whole Kurdistan region is vaccinated anytime soon. This comprehensive and national survey was conducted to investigate the perception of the people of the Kurdistan region towards COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. An adjusted valid and dependable questionnaire was deployed via social media platforms (Facebook and Viber) to invite participants aged 18 and over from the residents of the four provinces of the Kurdistan region. A total of 450 individuals participated in this study. The majority of the participants were male (54.4%) who were aged 26-40 years with bachelor's degrees (44.3%). Moreover, they were full-time employees (37.8%) with a household income of 0-$5,000 (53.3%). They were the residence of urban regions (81.9%) and Sulaymaniyah province (87.7%). On the probability of getting a COVID-19 vaccine shot, the responses were very likely (26.7%), somewhat likely (24.9%), not likely (20%), and definitely not (28.4%). The vaccine hesitancy prevalence was high among individuals aged 26-40, students with low incomes, unemployed, and those from the suburban areas, while respondents with the least perceived threat to get infected with the COVID-19 in the next year had the highest level of vaccine hesitancy. It is evident that vaccine hesitancy is high, and multiple strategies across the Kurdistan region needed to be implemented to encourage people to get vaccinated; therefore, scientific communication is necessary with the help of mass media.