This peer-reviewed journal article examines vaccine hesitancy among urban residents and their dependents in Accra, Ghana, with an emphasis on attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine and its implications for public health policy. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Environment and Sustainable Development (Ghana) using a representative online survey of more than 2,000 urban parents in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area. The authors apply econometric methods to analyse how demographic factors, prior health behaviours, risk perceptions, trust, and willingness-to-pay influence parents’ decisions about vaccinating their children against COVID-19.
Key findings
About 55% of surveyed parents were willing to allow their children to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Parents who had been tested for COVID-19, received a vaccine themselves, or expressed willingness to pay were more likely to approve child vaccination.
Perceived risk factors, such as concern about children’s vulnerability or community transmission, were positively associated with vaccine acceptance.
Distrust in vaccines and fear of the pandemic were associated with lower willingness to vaccinate children.
Certain demographic factors (inclduing being older, married, or belonging to specific religious groups) were also linked to increased likelihood of parents allowing child vaccination, while education level had no significant effect in this urban sample.
Thumbnail image credit: Shutterstock / Kwame Amo
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