Dataset Information

A National Survey to Assess the COVID-19 Vaccine-Related Conspiracy Beliefs, Acceptability, Preference, and Willingness to Pay among the General Population of Pakistan.

ABSTRACT: The current study aims to assess the beliefs of the general public in Pakistan towards conspiracy theories, acceptance, willingness to pay, and preference for the COVID-19 vaccine. A cross-sectional study was conducted through an online self-administered questionnaire during January 2021. The Chi-square test or Fisher exact test was utilized for statistical data analysis. A total of 2158 respondents completed the questionnaire, among them 1192 (55.2%) were male with 23.87 (SD: ±6.23) years as mean age. The conspiracy beliefs circulating regarding the COVID-19 vaccine were believed by 9.3% to 28.4% of the study participants. Among them, 1040 (48.2%) agreed to vaccinate on its availability while 934 (43.3%) reported the Chinese vaccine as their preference. The conspiracy beliefs of the participants were significantly associated with acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine. The existence of conspiracy beliefs and low vaccine acceptance among the general population is a serious threat to successful COVID-19 vaccination.

SUBMITTER: Arshad MS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8310108 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A National Survey to Assess the COVID-19 Vaccine-Related Conspiracy Beliefs, Acceptability, Preference, and Willingness to Pay among the General Population of Pakistan.

Arshad Muhammad Subhan MS Hussain Iltaf I Hussain Iltaf I Mahmood Tahir T Hayat Khezar K Majeed Abdul A Imran Imran I Saeed Hamid H Iqbal Muhammad Omer MO Uzair Muhammad M Rehman Anees Ur AU Ashraf Waseem W Usman Areeba A Syed Shahzada Khurram SK Akbar Muqarrab M Chaudhry Muhammad Omer MO Ramzan Basit B Islam Muhammad M Saleem Muhammad Usman MU Shakeel Waleed W Iqbal Iram I Hashmi Furqan F Rasool Muhammad Fawad MF

Vaccines 20210701 7

The current study aims to assess the beliefs of the general public in Pakistan towards conspiracy theories, acceptance, willingness to pay, and preference for the COVID-19 vaccine. A cross-sectional study was conducted through an online self-administered questionnaire during January 2021. The Chi-square test or Fisher exact test was utilized for statistical data analysis. A total of 2158 respondents completed the questionnaire, among them 1192 (55.2%) were male with 23.87 (SD: ±6.23) years as me ...[more]

PMID: 34358136

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Project description:Vaccination protects people from serious illness and associated complications.Conspiracy theories and misinformation on vaccines have been rampant during the COVID-19 pandemic and are considered significant drivers of vaccine hesitancy. Since vaccine hesitancy can undermine efforts to immunize the population against COVID-19 and interferes with the vaccination rate, this study aimed to ascertain the COVID-19-vaccine-related conspiracy beliefs, vaccine hesitancy, views regarding vaccine mandates, and willingness to pay for vaccines among the general population. A web-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted (April-August 2021) among the adult population in six countries (Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, India, Malaysia, Sudan, and Egypt). Participants were recruited using an exponential, non-discriminate snowball sampling method. A validated self-completed electronic questionnaire was used for the data collection. All the participants responded to questions on various domains of the study instrument, including conspiracy beliefs, vaccine hesitancy, and willingness to pay. The responses were scored according to predefined criteria and stratified into various groups. All data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 22. A total of 2481 responses were included in the study (Pakistan 24.1%, Saudi Arabia 19.5%, India 11.6%, Malaysia 8.1%, Sudan 19.3%, and Egypt 17.3%). There was a preponderance of participants ≤40 years old (18-25 years: 55.8%, 26-40 years: 28.5%) and females (57.1%). The average score of the COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy belief scale (C19V-CBS) was 2.30 ± 2.12 (median 2; range 0-7). Our analysis showed that 30% of the respondents were found to achieve the ideal score of zero, indicating no conspiracy belief. The mean score of the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy scale (C19V-HS) was 25.93 ± 8.11 (range: 10-50). The majority (45.7%) had C19V-HA scores of 21-30 and nearly 28% achieved a score greater than 30, indicating a higher degree of hesitancy. There was a significant positive correlation between conspiracy beliefs and vaccine hesitancy (Spearman's rho = 0.547, p < 0.001). Half of the study population were against the vaccine mandate. Respondents in favor of governmental enforcement of COVID-19 vaccines had significantly (p < 0.001) lower scores on the C19V-CBS and C19V-HS scale. Nearly 52% reported that they would only take vaccine if it were free, and only 24% were willing to pay for COVID-19 vaccines. A high prevalence of conspiracy beliefs and vaccine hesitancy was observed in the targeted countries. Our findings highlight the dire need for aggressive measures to counter the conspiracy beliefs and factors underlying this vaccine hesitancy.

Project description:BackgroundThe Saudi Healthcare System is universal, financed entirely from government revenue principally derived from oil, and is 'free at the point of delivery' (non-contributory). However, this system is unlikely to be sustainable in the medium to long term. This study investigates the feasibility and acceptability of healthcare financing reform by examining households' willingness to pay (WTP) for a contributory national health insurance scheme.MethodsUsing the contingent valuation method, a pre-tested interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 1187 heads of household in Jeddah province over a 5-month period. Multi-stage sampling was employed to select the study sample. Using a double-bounded dichotomous choice with the follow-up elicitation method, respondents were asked to state their WTP for a hypothetical contributory national health insurance scheme. Tobit regression analysis was used to examine the factors associated with WTP and assess the construct validity of elicited WTP.ResultsOver two-thirds (69.6%) indicated that they were willing to participate in and pay for a contributory national health insurance scheme. The mean WTP was 50 Saudi Riyal (US$13.33) per household member per month. Tobit regression analysis showed that household size, satisfaction with the quality of public healthcare services, perceptions about financing healthcare, education and income were the main determinants of WTP.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates a theoretically valid WTP for a contributory national health insurance scheme by Saudi people. The research shows that willingness to participate in and pay for a contributory national health insurance scheme depends on participant characteristics. Identifying and understanding the main influencing factors associated with WTP are important to help facilitate establishing and implementing the national health insurance scheme. The results could assist policy-makers to develop and set insurance premiums, thus providing an additional source of healthcare financing.

Project description:BackgroundEbola virus disease is a highly virulent and transmissible disease. The largest recorded fatality from Ebola virus disease epidemic is ongoing in a few countries in West Africa, and this poses a health risk to the entire population of the world because arresting the transmission has been challenging. Vaccination is considered a key intervention that is capable of arresting further spread of the disease and preventing future outbreak. However, no vaccine has yet been approved for public use, although various recombinant vaccines are undergoing trials and approval for public use is imminent. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the acceptability of and willingness-to-pay for Ebola virus vaccine by the public.MethodsThe study was a community-based cross-sectional qualitative and quantitative interventional study conducted in two communities, each in two states in Nigeria. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect information on respondents' knowledge of the Ebola virus, the ways to prevent the disease, and their preventive practices, as well as their acceptability of and willingness-to-pay for a hypothetical vaccine against Ebola virus disease. The association between acceptability of the vaccine and other independent variables were evaluated using multivariate regression analysis.ResultsEbola virus disease was considered to be a very serious disease by 38.5% of the 582 respondents (224/582), prior to receiving health education on Ebola virus and its vaccine. Eighty percent (80%) accepted to be vaccinated with Ebola vaccine. However, among those that accepted to be vaccinated, most would only accept after observing the outcome on others who have received the vaccine. More than 87.5% was willing to pay for the vaccine, although 55.2% was of the opinion that the vaccine should be provided free of charge.ConclusionThe level of acceptability of Ebola virus vaccine among respondents was impressive (though conditional), as well as their willingness to pay for it if the vaccine is not publicly funded. In order to achieve a high uptake of the vaccine, information and education on the vaccine should be extensively shared with the public prior to the introduction of the vaccine, and the vaccine should be provided free of charge by government.

Project description:BackgroundAdult outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy (OPAT) programs have been reported in the literature for over 20 years, however there are no published reports quantifying preference for treatment location of patients referred to an OPAT program. The purpose of this study was to elicit treatment location preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) from patients referred to an OPAT program.MethodsA multidisciplinary, single centre, prospective study at a 1000-bed Canadian adult tertiary care teaching hospital. This study involved a WTP questionnaire that was administered over a 9-month study period. Eligible and consenting patients referred to the OPAT program were asked to state their preference for treatment location and WTP for a hypothetical treatment scenario involving intravenous antibiotic therapy. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to determine predictors of WTP.ResultsOf 131 eligible patients, 91 completed the WTP questionnaire. The majority of participants were males, married, in their sixth decade of life and had a secondary school education or greater. The majority of participants were retired or they were employed with annual household incomes less than 60,000 dollars. Osteomyelitis was the most common type of infection for which parenteral therapy was required. Of those 87 patients who indicated a preference, 77 (89%) patients preferred treatment at home, 10 (11%) patients preferred treatment in hospital. Seventy-one (82%) of these patients provided interpretable WTP responses. Of these 71 patients, 64 preferred treatment at home with a median WTP of 490 dollars CDN (mean 949 dollars, range 20 to 6250 dollars) and 7 preferred treatment in the hospital with a median WTP of 500 dollars CDN (mean 1123 dollars, range 10 to 3000 dollars). Tests for differences in means and medians revealed no differences between WTP values between the treatment locations. The total WTP for the seven patients who preferred hospital treatment was 7,859 dollars versus 60,712 dollars for the 64 patients who preferred home treatment. Income and treatment location preference were independent predictors of WTP.ConclusionThis study reveals that treatment at home is preferred by adult inpatients receiving intravenous antibiotic therapy that are referred to our OPAT program. Income and treatment location appear to be independently associated with their willingness to pay.

Dataset Information

A National Survey to Assess the COVID-19 Vaccine-Related Conspiracy Beliefs, Acceptability, Preference, and Willingness to Pay among the General Population of Pakistan.

Publications

A National Survey to Assess the COVID-19 Vaccine-Related Conspiracy Beliefs, Acceptability, Preference, and Willingness to Pay among the General Population of Pakistan.

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