Acceptance and reluctance of COVID-19 vaccination among the general population: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies

Gajalakshmi Thiyagarajan,  Vanitha Rani Nagasubramanian, Seetha Lakshmi Ravichandran,  Preetha Baskaran,  Danya Cendhil Thangam,  Rathiesh Kanna Sankaranarayanan,  Krishna Undela,  Bhima Sridevi,  Ranakishor Pelluri,  Prasada Chowdari Gurram,  Jayaraman Rajangam   

Gajalakshmi Thiyagarajan1, Vanitha Rani Nagasubramanian2,Seetha Lakshmi Ravichandran1, Preetha Baskaran1, Danya Cendhil Thangam1, Rathiesh Kanna Sankaranarayanan1, Krishna Undela3, Bhima Sridevi4, Ranakishor Pelluri4, Prasada Chowdari Gurram4, Jayaraman Rajangam5

1Department of Pharmacy Practice, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education Research, (Deemed to be University), Chennai, India.

2Department of Pharmacy Practice, Jaya College of Paramedical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Chennai, India.

3Department of Pharmacy Practice, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Guwahati, India.

4Department of Pharmacy, KL College of Pharmacy, Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, KL Deemed to be University, Guntur, India.

5Department of Pharmacology, Shri Venkateshwara College of Pharmacy, Pondicherry, India.

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Published:  Feb 19, 2025

DOI: 10.7324/JAPS.2025.205927
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Abstract

The objective of this study was to systematically review the selected literature and identify the rate and reasons for acceptance and hesitancy among the common public toward coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination in various countries. The systematic review was conducted in compliance with the “Preferred Reporting Project for Systematic Evaluation and Meta-Analysis” recommendations using search words in search engines (PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar), and the cross-sectional studies were screened based on inclusion and exclusion standards. Institute of Joanna Briggs. A critical analytical checklist was used to evaluate publication bias in the included studies. The analysis was performed using the 4.0.5 version of R. Of the 84 articles screened, 18 were included. Ten articles that assessed the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination in 22,212 participants reported an overall 59.6% acceptance rate with highest in Malaysia (94.3%) and the lowest in Hong Kong (42.2%). The proportion of the vaccination acceptance rate published in 16 studies with weighted mean difference (WMD) was 63.79% (95% CI: 54.19%–73.39 %; I2 = 100 %; p < 0.00001), and the proportion of hesitancy rate in 8 studies with WMD was 25.13% (95% CI: 17.21%–33.06%; I2 = 100 %; p < 0.00001). Hesitancy to get vaccinations was due to concerns about adverse consequences, lack of reliability, belief as a biological weapon, newness, issues regarding effectiveness and safety, and not wanting to be the first to receive the vaccination. COVID-19 vaccine acceptability rates overall were around 64%, and concerns about vaccine safety had led to hampered vaccination promotion among the public.


Keyword:     COVID-19 vaccination acceptance hesitancy global population

Citation:

Thiyagarajan G, Nagasubramanian VR, Ravichandran SL, Baskaran P, Thangam DC, Sankaranarayanan RK, Undela K, Sridevi B, Pelluri R, Gurram PC, Rajangam J. Acceptance and reluctance of COVID-19 vaccination among the general population: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies. J Appl Pharm Sci. 2025. Online First. http://doi.org/10.7324/JAPS.2025.205927

Copyright: © The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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