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. 2023 Aug 1;19(2):2245720.
doi: 10.1080/21645515.2023.2245720.

Hesitancy toward vaccination against COVID-19: A scoping review of prevalence and associated factors in the Arab world

Zufishan Alam  1 , Salma Mohamed  1 , Javaid Nauman  1   2   3 , Rami H Al-Rifai  1 , Luai A Ahmed  1   4 , Iffat Elbarazi  1
Affiliations

Hesitancy toward vaccination against COVID-19: A scoping review of prevalence and associated factors in the Arab world

Zufishan Alam et al. Hum Vaccin Immunother. .

Abstract

Despite widespread availability of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 virus, the cause of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), its uptake in many Arab countries is relatively low. This literature review aimed to scope evidence on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (VH) in the Arab world. A total of 134 articles reporting prevalence of COVID-19 VH and associated factors, conducted in any of the 22 Arab League countries, were reviewed. COVID-19 VH prevalence ranged from 5.4% to 83.0%. Female gender, young age, low education level and lack of previous influenza vaccine uptake were most commonly reported to be associated with COVID-19 VH. The most-reported personal concerns contributing toward VH were related to the rapid development, safety and side effects of vaccine, as well as an overall lack of trust in government policies toward pandemic control and widespread conspiracy theories. Tailored interventions to enable the distribution of trusted information and enhance public acceptance of immunization are warranted.

Keywords: Arab world; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Scoping review; Vaccine hesitancy; pandemic.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
PRISMA flow chart illustrating study selection.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Distribution of the number of the included studies by country.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

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