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. 2022 Jun 24;17(6):e0270023.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270023. eCollection 2022.

Role of literacy, fear and hesitancy on acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine among village health volunteers in Thailand

Pallop Siewchaisakul  1   2 , Pongdech Sarakarn  3   4 , Sirinya Nanthanangkul  5 , Jirapat Longkul  6 , Waraporn Boonchieng  1   2 , Jukkrit Wungrath  1
Affiliations

Role of literacy, fear and hesitancy on acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine among village health volunteers in Thailand

Pallop Siewchaisakul et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: The roles of literacy, fear and hesitancy were investigated for acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine (AV) types among village health volunteers (VHVs) in Thailand.

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using an unidentified online questionnaire to assess literacy, fear and hesitancy of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among Thai VHVs between 1 and 15 October 2021. The questionnaire was developed based on the HLVa-IT (Health Literacy Vaccinale degli adulti in Italiano) for vaccine literacy (VL), using an adult Vaccine Hesitancy Scale (aVHS) for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (VH) and Fear of COVID-19 scale (FCoV-19S) for the distress of COVID-19 vaccine. The effects of VL, VH and vaccine fear (VF) on AV were estimated using multivariable logistic regression.

Results: A total of 5,312 VHVs completed the questionnaire. After adjustment with variables in the multivariable analysis, the VL score was insignificantly associated with increased vaccination (aOR = 1.002; (95%CI: 0.994-1.01)), while VF and VH significantly decreased the chance of vaccination, aOR = 0.966 (95%CI: 0.953-0.978) and aOR = 0.969; (95%CI: 0.960-0.979), respectively and VF and VH were negatively associated with AV for all types of vaccine preference, with VL showing a reverse relationship only for mRNA-based vaccines.

Conclusion: VL may not increase AV among VHVs. To increase attitudes toward receiving COVID-19 vaccination in Thailand, the government and health-related organizations should instigate policies to significantly reduce VF and VH among Thai VHVs.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Flow chart of sample collection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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