COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake, Acceptance, and Reason for Vaccine Hesitancy: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Pregnant Women in Trinidad, West Indies [Letter]

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COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake, Acceptance, and Reasons for Vaccine Hesitancy: A Cross-Sectional Study among Pregnant Women in Trinidad, West Indies [Response To Letter]

Dear editor

We have read the paper by Shane Khan et al on COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake, Acceptance, and Reasons for Vaccine Hesitancy.¹ This research is very interesting because it wants to see the reasons why there are still many pregnant women who are hesitant to get the Covid-19 vaccine. We would like to share our views on this study considering the importance of vaccination due to vaccine hesitancy as one of the 10 biggest threats to global health and the success of a vaccine depends not only on its efficacy but also on its acceptance in society.²

The study conducted by Shane Khan et al aims to determine the level of acceptance and uptake of the Covid-19 vaccine among pregnant women and the reasons for hesitation in vaccinating.¹ The results obtained state that the main reason for vaccine hesitancy is the lack of research on the Covid-19 vaccine in pregnancy so that pregnant women believe that the vaccine will harm their baby.¹ However, this is not the only reason for doubts that arise among the public, especially pregnant women. Another reason is because of the many types of Covid-19 vaccines circulating from several companies, giving rise to doubts about the effectiveness of each of these vaccines.³ In addition, trust in vaccines is also very dependent on feelings of trust in governments, health professionals, scientific authorities, and strong scientific data.²

The study conducted by Shane Khan et al was a cross-sectional study in which participants had to complete an adapted WHO questionnaire on reasons for hesitancy of the COVID-19 vaccine.¹ The method used is in accordance with the objectives of this study, but there are several things that must be considered in the questionnaire that will be given to respondents, namely gravidity, parity, high-risk pregnancies, trimesters of pregnancy, and currently breastfeeding or planning to breastfeed their babies later. In addition, it is also important to assess pregnant women with pre-existing chronic diseases, as this will help in assessing the causes of hesitation in making vaccination decisions in pregnant women.⁴

In conclusion, we agree that the rate of absorption and acceptance of the Covid-19 vaccine is still relatively low where the main reason for doubt is due to a lack of confidence in the Covid-19 vaccine and the perception that the vaccine is harmful to infants due to the lack of research on the Covid-19 vaccine in pregnancy.¹ We recommend the dissemination of reliable information regarding the safety and efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccine by competent health workers, so that it can significantly increase the level of public trust and awareness of the safety of the Covid-19 vaccine in pregnancy and breastfeeding.²

Disclosure

All authors report no other conflict of interest in this communication.