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Review
. 2023 Jun 6;11(6):1070.
doi: 10.3390/vaccines11061070.

COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance and Hesitancy among Migrants, Refugees, and Foreign Workers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Khalid Hajissa  1 , Hammed-Akanmu Mutiat  2 , Nawal Al Kaabi  3   4 , Mohammed Alissa  5 , Mohammed Garout  6 , Anood A Alenezy  7   8 , Rana H Almaghrabi  9 , Hayam A Alrasheed  10   11 , Maha F Al-Subaie  12   13   14 , Hatem M Alhani  15   16   17 , Ahmad A Alshehri  18 , Ibrahim Abdullah Almazni  18 , Ali S Alqahtani  19 , Fayez Saeed Bahwerth  20 , Nourah Hashem Alqethami  20 , Amal A Alzayer  21 , Ali A Rabaan  14   22   23
Affiliations
Review

COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance and Hesitancy among Migrants, Refugees, and Foreign Workers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Khalid Hajissa et al. Vaccines (Basel). .

Abstract

Despite the effectiveness of current vaccines in reducing the spread and severity of SARS-CoV-2 infections, many people, including migrants, refugees, and foreign workers, are hesitant to be vaccinated. This systematic review and meta-analysis (SRMA) was conducted to determine the pooled prevalence estimate of the acceptance and hesitancy rates of the COVID-19 vaccine among these populations. A comprehensive search of the peer-reviewed literature indexed in PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, and Web of Science databases was conducted. Initially, 797 potential records were identified, of which 19 articles met the inclusion criteria. A meta-analysis of proportions using data from 14 studies revealed that the overall acceptance rate of COVID vaccination among 29,152 subjects was 56.7% (95% CI: 44.9-68.5%), while the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy among 26,154 migrants reported in 12 studies was estimated to be 31.7% (95% CI: 44.9-68.5%). The acceptance rate for the COVID-19 vaccination first declined from 77.3% in 2020 to 52.9% in 2021 and then slightly increased to 56.1% in 2022. The most frequent factors influencing vaccine hesitancy were worries about vaccine efficacy and safety. Intensive vaccination campaigns should be implemented to raise vaccination awareness among migrants, which will increase the acceptance rate for the COVID-19 vaccine and result in herd immunity.

Keywords: COVID-19; acceptance; foreign workers; hesitancy; migrants; refugees; rejection; vaccine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flow diagram of study selection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Pooled prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance [21,22,24,25,27,29,30,31,32,34,35,36,37,38].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Pooled prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy [21,22,23,25,27,29,31,32,33,36,38,39].
Figure 4
Figure 4
Funnel plot of publication bias of the included studies. (A) Vaccine acceptance. (B) Vaccine hesitancy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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