Previously submitted to: JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (no longer under consideration since Oct 18, 2024)
Date Submitted: Nov 21, 2023
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
To Concern or Not to Concern: Analyses of Perception and Attitudes toward COVID Vaccine’s Side Effect among the Philippines and Malaysians
ABSTRACT
Background:
In the long wait for a vaccine against COVID-19, several pharmaceutical companies developed highly effective and safe vaccines. However, how people are reacting to the significance and usage of those vaccines is another pertinent issue?
Objective:
This study explores the perceptions and attitudes towards the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine and its potential side effects among people in the Philippines and Malaysia.
Methods:
A total of 4114 participants from the Philippines (n=1002) and Malaysia (n=1556) were recruited for this study. Bivariate and multivariate analysis techniques have been used. In descriptive analyses, the Chi-square test was used to compute absolute frequency and relative frequency (percentages) across the two countries. Three different adjusted models were employed to run ordered logistic regression.
Results:
The majority (over 60%) of participants rated all the COVID vaccine-related information as important in both countries. Vaccine acceptance was lower in Philippines as compared to Malaysia as only two-fifths (43.41%) of the Philippines’ respondents stated that everyone should get vaccinated in comparison to almost three-fourths (77.06%) of respondents in Malaysia. Respondents were two times [OR: 2.17; CI: 2.06-2.29] more likely to report that vaccine is safe to use. The odds of people believing that a vaccine can help control the spread of COVID-19 were almost two times higher [OR: 1.90; CI: 1.82-1.99] than the belief that the COVID-19 vaccine cannot help in controlling the spread of COVID-19. The importance of vaccine for health was lower among employed respondents [OR:0.83; CI:0.72-0.94] than in the respondents who were not employed. After controlling all the confounder factors, the odds of concern that the vaccine could cause serious reactions were higher [OR: 1.57; CI:1.48-1.67] among respondents.
Conclusions:
The adherence to COVID-19 preventive measures will need to be monitored closely as restrictive measures are being relaxed and as the expectations concerning the COVID-19 vaccine may decrease the motivation of people to adhere to prevention measures. With the advent of mass vaccination to quell the COVID-19 pandemic, the distribution of strategically placed public health information regarding COVID-19 vaccination, delivered in locally customized and culturally appropriate language.
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