COVID-19 Vaccine hesitancy and influencing factors: An example from Turkey

Abstract

Objective: To find out the opinions concerning vaccine hesitancy of people and influencing factors who had not received COVID-19 vaccination. Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. It was carried out between February and April 2022 with individuals who were not vaccinated against COVID-19. It included 634 participants registered at a family health center in Rize, Turkey. Data were collected by telephone using a questionnaire. For statistical analysis, the R programming language was used. The Boruta algorithm was used to rank the variables associated to the reasons for not trusting the vaccine. Results: “I do not trust vaccines (67%)” is the most frequently cited reason for not being vaccinated. The most often cited reasons for not trusting vaccinations are that vaccines are produced for the benefit of foreign companies (56.2%), vaccines are ineffective (55.5%), and vaccines have not undergone sufficient scrutiny (53.2%). According to Boruta analyses, the top three variables most closely associated with not trusting COVID-19 vaccines were belief that vaccines are produced for the benefit of foreign countries/vaccines companies, imported vaccines have not undergone sufficient scrutiny, and vaccines being ineffective. Conclusions: People do not get vaccinated because they do not trust vaccinations due to concerns about their safety, effectiveness, political influences, and potential adverse effects.