COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake and Associated Factors among Healthcare Workers in Lower Juba Region of Jubaland State in Somalia

Abstract

Background: Somalia’s health systems were weakened by decades of conflicts, and this was made worse by the coronavirus pandemic that hit the nation like the rest of the world. Despite the existence of different types of COVID-19 vaccines, there has been a reluctance to take the vaccine by the general population and ironically by healthcare workers. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine in the Lower Juba Region of the Jubaland State in Somalia among healthcare providers. Methods: The research study used a quantitative descriptive design to describe the levels of COVID-19 vaccine uptake among healthcare workers. The study recruited 191 study respondents. Stratified and simple random sampling methods were used. All the significance tests were conducted with two tails, and the threshold for statistical significance was set at P less than 0.05. Results: From this study, 46.6% of the study respondents had been vaccinated with the Covid-19 vaccine. Among the vaccinated group, 55.1% (49) received astrazeneca vaccine, 52.8% (47) received received 2 doses and males made up 51.5% (52). Regression analysis revealed that the observed differences in covid vaccine uptake for age, gender, education and work experience are not statistically significant. Trust in the protection of the vaccines (61.5%) and influence from family and friends (55.1%) were rated as having the highest influence on the participants’ decision to be vaccinated against covid. Conclusion: From this research, close to half of the study respondents had been vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccines. No significant differences have been shown in different gender, age groups, education level work experience on vaccination status. Building trust for vaccines, encouraging family/friends support and making vaccines easily accessible are seen as ways to improve uptake.