COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Malaysia: Exploring factors and identifying highly vulnerable groups
Vaccine hesitancy is a global health challenge in controlling the virulence of pandemics. The prevalence of vaccine hesitancy will put highly vulnerable groups, such as the elderly or groups with pre-existing health conditions, at a higher risk, as seen with the outbreak of the pandemic Covid-19. Ba...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English English |
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Public Library Science
2022
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/33995/1/COVID-19%20vaccine%20hesitancy%20in%20Malaysia.pdf https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/33995/2/COVID-19%20vaccine%20hesitancy%20in%20Malaysia1.pdf |
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| author | Adi Jafar Ramzah Dambul Ramli Dollah Nordin Sakke Mohammad Tahir Mapa Eko Prayitno Joko |
| author_facet | Adi Jafar Ramzah Dambul Ramli Dollah Nordin Sakke Mohammad Tahir Mapa Eko Prayitno Joko |
| author_sort | Adi Jafar |
| collection | UMS |
| description | Vaccine hesitancy is a global health challenge in controlling the virulence of pandemics. The prevalence of vaccine hesitancy will put highly vulnerable groups, such as the elderly or groups with pre-existing health conditions, at a higher risk, as seen with the outbreak of the pandemic Covid-19. Based on the trends of vaccine hesitancy in the state of Sabah, located in East Malaysia, this study seeks to identify several variables that contribute to vaccine hesitancy. In addition to this, this study also determines which groups are affected by vaccine hesitancy based on their demographics. This study is based on a sampling of 1,024 Sabahan population aged 18 and above through an online and face-to-face questionnaire. The raw data was analysed using the K-Means Clustering Analysis, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskal-Wallis Test, and frequency. The K-Means Clustering found that more than half of the total number of respondents (Cluster 2 = 51.9%) tend to demonstrate vaccine hesitancy. Based on the PCA analysis, six main factors were found to cause vaccine hesitancy in Sabah: confidence (var(X) = 21.6%), the influence of local authority (var(X) = 12.1%), ineffectiveness of mainstream media (var(X) = 8.4%), complacency (var(X) = 7.4%), social media (var(X) = 6.4%), and convenience issues (var(X) = 5.8%). Findings from both Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests demonstrate that several factors of group demographics, such as employment status, level of education, religion, gender, and marital status, may explain the indicator of vaccine hesitancy. In particular, specific groups tend to become vaccine hesitancy such as, unemployed, self-employed, students, male, single, level of education, and Muslim. Findings from this empirical study are crucial to inform the relevant local authorities on the level of vulnerability among certain groups in facing the hazards of COVID-19. The main contribution of this study is that it seeks to analyse the factors behind vaccine hesitancy and identifies which groups more likely hesitant toward vaccines based on their demographics. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T03:19:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | ums.eprints-33995 |
| institution | Universiti Malaysia Sabah |
| language | English English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T03:19:46Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Public Library Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ums.eprints-339952022-08-29T00:51:59Z https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/33995/ COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Malaysia: Exploring factors and identifying highly vulnerable groups Adi Jafar Ramzah Dambul Ramli Dollah Nordin Sakke Mohammad Tahir Mapa Eko Prayitno Joko RA418-418.5 Medicine and society. Social medicine. Medical sociology RA648.5-767 Epidemics. Epidemiology. Quarantine. Disinfection Vaccine hesitancy is a global health challenge in controlling the virulence of pandemics. The prevalence of vaccine hesitancy will put highly vulnerable groups, such as the elderly or groups with pre-existing health conditions, at a higher risk, as seen with the outbreak of the pandemic Covid-19. Based on the trends of vaccine hesitancy in the state of Sabah, located in East Malaysia, this study seeks to identify several variables that contribute to vaccine hesitancy. In addition to this, this study also determines which groups are affected by vaccine hesitancy based on their demographics. This study is based on a sampling of 1,024 Sabahan population aged 18 and above through an online and face-to-face questionnaire. The raw data was analysed using the K-Means Clustering Analysis, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskal-Wallis Test, and frequency. The K-Means Clustering found that more than half of the total number of respondents (Cluster 2 = 51.9%) tend to demonstrate vaccine hesitancy. Based on the PCA analysis, six main factors were found to cause vaccine hesitancy in Sabah: confidence (var(X) = 21.6%), the influence of local authority (var(X) = 12.1%), ineffectiveness of mainstream media (var(X) = 8.4%), complacency (var(X) = 7.4%), social media (var(X) = 6.4%), and convenience issues (var(X) = 5.8%). Findings from both Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests demonstrate that several factors of group demographics, such as employment status, level of education, religion, gender, and marital status, may explain the indicator of vaccine hesitancy. In particular, specific groups tend to become vaccine hesitancy such as, unemployed, self-employed, students, male, single, level of education, and Muslim. Findings from this empirical study are crucial to inform the relevant local authorities on the level of vulnerability among certain groups in facing the hazards of COVID-19. The main contribution of this study is that it seeks to analyse the factors behind vaccine hesitancy and identifies which groups more likely hesitant toward vaccines based on their demographics. Public Library Science 2022-07 Article PeerReviewed text en https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/33995/1/COVID-19%20vaccine%20hesitancy%20in%20Malaysia.pdf text en https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/33995/2/COVID-19%20vaccine%20hesitancy%20in%20Malaysia1.pdf Adi Jafar and Ramzah Dambul and Ramli Dollah and Nordin Sakke and Mohammad Tahir Mapa and Eko Prayitno Joko (2022) COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Malaysia: Exploring factors and identifying highly vulnerable groups. PLoS ONE, 17 (7). pp. 1-20. ISSN 1932-6203 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0270868 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270868 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270868 |
| spellingShingle | RA418-418.5 Medicine and society. Social medicine. Medical sociology RA648.5-767 Epidemics. Epidemiology. Quarantine. Disinfection Adi Jafar Ramzah Dambul Ramli Dollah Nordin Sakke Mohammad Tahir Mapa Eko Prayitno Joko COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Malaysia: Exploring factors and identifying highly vulnerable groups |
| title | COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Malaysia: Exploring factors and identifying highly vulnerable groups |
| title_full | COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Malaysia: Exploring factors and identifying highly vulnerable groups |
| title_fullStr | COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Malaysia: Exploring factors and identifying highly vulnerable groups |
| title_full_unstemmed | COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Malaysia: Exploring factors and identifying highly vulnerable groups |
| title_short | COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Malaysia: Exploring factors and identifying highly vulnerable groups |
| title_sort | covid 19 vaccine hesitancy in malaysia exploring factors and identifying highly vulnerable groups |
| topic | RA418-418.5 Medicine and society. Social medicine. Medical sociology RA648.5-767 Epidemics. Epidemiology. Quarantine. Disinfection |
| url | https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/33995/1/COVID-19%20vaccine%20hesitancy%20in%20Malaysia.pdf https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/33995/2/COVID-19%20vaccine%20hesitancy%20in%20Malaysia1.pdf |
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