COVID-19 vaccine uptake, confidence and hesitancy in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa between April 2021 and April 2022: A continuous cross-sectional surveillance study.

ABSTRACT: High COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in South Africa limits protection against future epidemic waves. We evaluated how vaccine hesitancy and its correlates evolved April 2021-April 2022 in a well-characterized rural KwaZulu-Natal setting. All residents aged >15 in the Africa Health Research Institute's surveillance area were invited to complete a home-based, in-person interview. We described vaccine uptake and hesitancy trends, then evaluated associations with pre-existing personal factors, dynamic environmental context, and cues to action using ordinal logistic regression. Among 10,011 respondents, vaccine uptake rose as age-cohorts became vaccine-eligible before levelling off three months post-eligibility; younger age-groups had slower uptake and plateaued faster. Lifetime receipt of any COVI

SUBMITTER: Piltch-Loeb R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10298801 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature