Background: This paper analyzes associations of socio-demographic factors with the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines, the refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19, and various reasons stated for refusing vaccination against COVID-19 among a representative sample of Ugandan women.
Methods: This paper utilizes a representative survey collected among women aged 15-49 years in Uganda between September and November 2021. Regression analyses are used to study the associations of a broad range of socio-demographic characteristics with COVID-19 vaccine uptake, refusal of vaccination, and reasons for refusal among the respondents.
Results: 4287 women were included in the analysis. 11.26% of them were vaccinated against COVID-19, 75.48% were willing to get vaccinated, 13.26% were unwilling to get vaccinated. Fear of side effects is the most commonly stated reason for refusing vaccination (68%). Factors significantly and positively associated with being vaccinated against COVID-19 are age, higher education, urban residency, recent labor supply, having savings, partial instead of complete income loss during the pandemic, and usage of modern contraceptives. Factors significantly and positively associated with refusing vaccination against COVID-19 are urban residency and current pregnancy, while age, relative household wealth, having savings, and using modern contraceptives are factors associated with a lower likelihood of refusing vaccination, albeit with varying statistical significance. Few factors are strongly related to the stated reasons for refusing the vaccines; the fear of side effects significantly increases with age, while having received negative information on the vaccines is significantly less common among women with higher education.
Conclusions: This study reveals a low COVID-19 vaccination rate and a high willingness to get vaccinated in the future among Ugandan women aged 15-49 years in the second half of 2021. Positive age and education gradients in vaccine uptake point to inequity in access to vaccination, potentially resulting from prioritizations of groups at particularly high risk. Unwillingness to be vaccinated is relatively low, but systematic factors behind vaccine refusal are hardly to be found, even less so for particular reasons given for refusal.