The socio-cultural factors behind the Saudi attitude toward Covid-19 vaccination

A survey-based study

Bibliographic Data

ID22076458
AuthorsMuna Al-Ghuraibi (King Saud University), Ibrahim M Dighriri (0000-0001-7590-2832, King Abdulaziz Hospital), Mahmoud E Elrggal (0000-0002-0026-5514, Umm al-Qura University), Najla A Obaid (0000-0001-7094-0813, Umm al-Qura University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume10
Pages1026252-1026252
Publication date2023-01-09
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFrontiers in Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2296-2565 • E-ISSN: 2296-2565
PublisherFrontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3389/fpubh.2022.1026252
PMID36699886
OpenAlexW4313909986
LanguageEN
References cited26

Introduction: Vaccine distrust and rejection are thought to contribute to disease outbreaks and increased mortality. The present study aimed to analyze the socio-cultural characteristics and attitudes of the Saudi population toward vaccines, using a cross-sectional survey-based approach. Methods: An online questionnaire was used, following the snowball method. A total of 444 people responded, of whom 333 (75%) were female, and 111 (25%) were male. Results: The demographic characteristics associated with vaccine confidence were gender, job type, medical problems, and knowledge of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) symptoms. The hesitancy was highest (31.17%) among individuals aged 21-30 years old, and in more males (27.03%) expressed hesitancy than females (25.23%). However, if we focused on the percentage of the refusal to receive the vaccine, more females (15.23%) refused the vaccine than males (4.5%). More than one-third of the vaccine-hesitant respondents had limited knowledge of COVID-19 symptoms. Personal characteristics associated with vaccine confidence were described as the following: do not fully trust vaccines produced in a short time (42.1%), fear of the future results of the vaccine (30.4%), reluctance to allow a foreign material to enter the body (17.6%), no interaction with others, so no need for the vaccine (11.5%), low interaction with people (67.8%), and reluctance to make decisions (11.3%). The primary social motivation for getting the vaccine was to get back to normal life (67.6%). Discussion: The results of the present study revealed that more than half of the respondents in Saudi Arabia were confident about the vaccine (61.7%), while only 25.7% were hesitant and 12.6% were unconvinced. Based on these results, in the early period of COVID-19 vaccine administration in the country (early 2021), before any governmental allowance and political intervention, we found that the socio-demographic and socio-cultural characteristics of the population were significant factors contributing to vaccination acceptance. Therefore, policymakers should support long-term safety studies of the vaccine, conduct educational programs giving high-priority to the populations' health, and tailor vaccination hesitancy reduction techniques to local communities

Anxiety · Confidence interval · Cross-sectional study · Disease · Distrust · Environmental health · Family medicine · Outbreak · Pandemic · Population · Psychiatry · Snowball sampling · Vaccination · COVID-19 and Mental Health · Demography · Medicine · Psychology · SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research · Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy · Immunology · Internal Medicine · Virology

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