A brand new survey of 23,000 adults in 23 international locations taken in October 2023 finds a decrease intent to get a COVID-19 booster vaccine (71.6%), in contrast with 2022 (87.9%).
Furthermore, 60.8% expressed being extra keen to get vaccinated for illnesses aside from COVID-19 on account of their experiences throughout the pandemic, whereas 23.1% reported being much less keen.
“This examine reveals {that a} substantial proportion of people categorical resistance to vaccination and that considerations about COVID-19 vaccination seem to have spilled over to have an effect on different vaccine-preventable illness,” the authors write.
This examine reveals {that a} substantial proportion of people categorical resistance to vaccination and that considerations about COVID-19 vaccination seem to have spilled over to have an effect on different vaccine-preventable illness.
The findings, revealed in Nature Medication, provide a brand new world snapshot of COVID vaccine attitudes and present that vaccine hesitancy and belief challenges stay all through the world in the present day.
“The repercussions of pandemic disruptions in healthcare companies, the consequences of the inequitable and gradual world vaccine distribution, and the prevalence of misinformation and distrust in well being authorities proceed to be felt,“ stated lead creator Jeffrey V. Lazarus, PhD, CUNY professor of worldwide well being, in a press launch from CUNY Graduate Faculty of Public Well being and Well being Coverage. “They characterize main obstacles for well being practitioners struggling to fulfill the pressing must get individuals caught up on routine immunizations and able to face the following pandemic.“
Whereas booster uptake dropped from 2022 to 2023, the variety of respondents with at the least one COVID vaccine dose elevated to 87.8% in 2023, in comparison with 36.9% in 2021 and 70.4% in 2022.
Willingness to get booster drops in high-income international locations
The reluctance to get a booster may spell bother for nations now attempting to deal with COVID-19 as a seasonal menace finest tempered by seasonal, annual vaccines.
“The SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to flow into and mutate,“ stated Ayman El-Mohandes, PhD, a senior creator of the examine and dean of the CUNY Faculty of Public Well being. “Variant-adapted boosters can be found, however public well being statistics present that many older individuals and others who’re at larger threat of extreme illness and loss of life haven’t accepted them.“
That is the fourth annual survey to evaluate attitudes in direction of COVID-19 vaccines performed by this analysis group. The 23 international locations included had been Brazil, Canada, China, Ecuador, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the UK, and the US.
Willingness to get a booster dose of vaccine dropped most notably in high-income international locations in comparison with middle-income international locations. Within the richest international locations surveyed, 85.1% of respondents in 2022 stated they had been keen to get a booster, in comparison with simply 63.3% in 2023.
Throughout high-, middle-, and low-income international locations, belief in well being authorities who advisable COVID-19 vaccination was larger than belief in governments’ administration of the COVID-19 pandemic, at 65.4% and 56.4%, respectively.
