Essential Workers’ COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy, Misinformation, and Informational Needs in the Republic of North Macedonia
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Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in over 5.2 million deaths. Vaccine hesitancy remains a public health challenge, especially in Eastern Europe. Our study used a sample of essential workers living in the Republic of North Macedonia to: (1) Describe rates of vaccine hesitancy and risk perception of COVID-19; (2) Explore predictors of vaccine hesitancy; and (3) Describe the informational needs of hesitant and non-hesitant workers. A phone survey was administered in North Macedonia from 4–16 May 2021. Logistic regression explored associations of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy with sociodemographic characteristics, non-COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, previous diagnosis of COVID-19, and individual risk perception of contracting COVID-19. Chi-squared analyses compared differences in informational needs by hesitancy status. Of 1003 individuals, 44% were very likely to get the vaccine, and 56% reported some level of hesitancy. Older age, Albanian ethnicity, increased education, previous COVID-19 diagnosis, acceptance of other vaccines, and increased risk perception of COVID-19 infection were negatively associated with vaccine hesitancy. Results indicated significant differences in top informational needs by hesitancy status. The top informational needs of the hesitant were the freedom to choose to be vaccinated without consequences (57% vs. 42%, p < 0.01) and that all main international agencies recommended the vaccine (35% vs. 24%, p < 0.01).
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SciScore for 10.1101/2021.12.22.21268045: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics IRB: The study protocol and survey instrument were approved by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Institutional Review Board. 2.2 Survey Instrument: The survey instrument consisted of 35 questions including the following topics/ areas: socio-demographics, acceptance of the COVID-19 and other vaccines, risk perception about contracting COVID-19, experience of COVID-19, health conditions associated with increased risk of severe consequences from the disease, sources of information about the vaccine, and informational needs about the vaccine. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
… SciScore for 10.1101/2021.12.22.21268045: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics IRB: The study protocol and survey instrument were approved by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Institutional Review Board. 2.2 Survey Instrument: The survey instrument consisted of 35 questions including the following topics/ areas: socio-demographics, acceptance of the COVID-19 and other vaccines, risk perception about contracting COVID-19, experience of COVID-19, health conditions associated with increased risk of severe consequences from the disease, sources of information about the vaccine, and informational needs about the vaccine. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
Software and Algorithms Sentences Resources The statistical analysis was conducted by the use of SPSS v.28. SPSSsuggested: (SPSS, RRID:SCR_002865)Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:Limitations: This study has several limitations. First, our sample is not representative of all essential workers in the Republic of Macedonia. However, a representative sample of essential workers would be very difficult to obtain given the multitude of job categories included in the list of essential workers and the lack of data on how many people work within each category in the nation. Second, the lack of longitudinal data does not allow us to study changes in the willingness to be vaccinated, therefore we do not know if those who were hesitant in May are the same people who are hesitant now, or if the informational needs we identified are reflective of current concerns. Finally, our results might not be comparable to other national polls or surveys because of potential differences in the survey methods, sample populations and questions related to vaccination intent.
Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.
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