Great efforts were being made to stop the spread and impact of the coronavirus pandemic through vaccines. Cameroon began vaccinating healthcare workers (HCWs) against COVID-19 vaccines on March, 2021. However, willingness to be vaccinated highly depends on factors other than vaccine availability. This study sought to measure the acceptance rate and related factors for COVID-19 vaccination among HCWs in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
A cross-sectional study was conducted with 510 HCWs in Yaounde, Cameroon. Data were collected, reviewed, entered into Excel 2016, and exported to the SPSS version 25.0 for analysis. The dependent variable was: acceptance to be vaccinated for COVID-19, and the independent variables included sociodemographic factors, attitudes, and perceptions toward COVID-19 vaccines. A binary logistic regression model was used to determine associations between vaccination acceptance and independent variables. From bivariate analysis, variables with p-values < 0.25 were retained for multivariate analysis. Multivariate analysis shows that variables with AOR and p-values <0.05 at 95 % CI are factors significantly associated with vaccine refusal among HCWs.
Overall, the percentage of HCWs with sufficient attitudes and perceptions toward COVID-19 vaccines was 45.5 % and 52.8 %, respectively. 68.4 % of HCWs accepted to be vaccinated, but 31.6 % were against it. Negative attitudes (AOR: 4,411; 95 % CI [2.324 - 8.372] for COVID-19 vaccine were significantly associated with vaccine acceptance. Nearly half (39.8 %) of HCWs said the vaccines could exacerbate existing conditions.
Willingness to be vaccinated was relatively high among HCWs. Negative attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines were significantly associated with vaccination acceptance.
Cite this paper
Aka, T. K. , Atanga, S. N. , Esemu, S. N. and Ndip, L. M. A. (2024). Attitudes, and perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines and Acceptance to receive COVID-19 vaccine among healthcare workers in Yaounde, Cameroon. Open Access Library Journal, 11, e1483. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1111483.
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