Abstract
Malaria contributes to an enormous global burden of disease and mortality, especially in children. Approximately one in every four global cases and deaths from malaria occurs in Nigeria. This study aims to evaluate the prevalence and correlates of community hesitancy to the malaria vaccine, including the reasons for the hesitancy, following the approval of the RTS,S malaria vaccine by the World Health Organization (WHO). This was a nationwide cross-sectional online survey of Nigerian adults conducted from 20th October to 30th November 2021. Participants who replied 'no' or 'maybe' to a question assessing their willingness to accept the RTS,S malaria vaccine were considered "hesitant". We fit a multivariate logistic regression model to report the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the factors associated with vaccine hesitancy. Among 3377 total respondents (1961 [57.86%] males; mean age [SD]: 30[9.1]), 1010 (29.91%) were hesitant. Receiving information about the RTS,S malaria vaccine initially from healthcare workers (vs. the internet) (aOR:0.55; 95% CI:0.35-0.87) was significantly associated with lower odds of hesitancy. Conversely, earning a high income of over NGN100, 000 (vs.<NGN 30,000) per month (aOR: 2.10, 95% CI: 1.36-3.24), belonging to other religious groups (vs. Islam) (aOR:3.25, 95% CI:1.18-8.98), and having a family size of more than ten (vs.<5) (aOR:1.84; 95% CI:1.08-3.13) were significantly associated with a higher odds of hesitancy. The main reasons for vaccine hesitancy included fear of vaccine adverse effects (34.95%), availability of other malaria preventive measures (33.96%) and not seeing the positive effect of the vaccine in others first (32.97%). The findings of this survey provide a valuable blueprint for the development of targeted interventions to facilitate caregiver acceptance of the RTS,S vaccine.
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