Essential Workers COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy, Misinformation and Informational Needs in the Republic of North Macedonia. (preprint)

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic is a global health crisis that as of December 2021 has resulted in the death of over 5.2 million people. Despite the unprecedented development and distribution of vaccines, hesitancy to take the vaccine remains a wide-spread public health challenge, especially in Eastern European countries. In this study we focus on a sample of essential workers in North Macedonia to 1) Describe rates of vaccine acceptance, risk perception and sources of COVID-19 information, 2) Explore predictors of vaccine hesitancy and 3) Describe informational needs of hesitant and non-hesitant essential workers. Methods: Descriptive statistics were used to present frequencies of vaccine acceptance. Logistic regression was used to explore predictors of vaccine acceptance based on sociodemographic characteristics, hesitancy to take other vaccines in the past, previous diagnosis of COVID-19, and individual risk perception of COVID-19. Chi square analysis was used to compare informational needs differences between hesitant and non-hesitant individuals across socio-demographic groups. Results: From a sample of 1003 individuals, 439 (44%) reported that they were very likely to get the vaccine, the rest reported some level of hesitancy. Older age, Albanian ethnicity, post-secondary school education, previous diagnosis of COVID-19, previous vaccine acceptance of other vaccines, and increased risk perception of COVID-19 infection were all found to be negatively associated with vaccine hesitancy. In particular hesitant individuals, compared to the non-hesitant, wanted to have more information and reassurance that all main international agencies (i.e. FDA, WHO, EMA) were all in accordance in recommending the vaccine and that they would be free to choose if getting the vaccine or not without consequences (p<0.01).