Vaccine rejection and hesitation in Turkey

Figures & data

Table 1. Participant demographics

DEMOGRAPHICS	% (n)
Age
18 − 44	72.6 (729)
45 − 64	20.7 (208)
65 and over	6.7 (67)
Gender
Male	50.1 (503)
Female	49.9 (501)
Marital status
Married	68.7 (690)
Single	31.3 (314)
Employment
Unemployed/housewives/retired	42.4 (426)
Blue collar worker	41.7 (419)
White collar worker	15.9 (159)
Income level
Low	30.6 (307)
Medium	45.9 (461)
High	23.5 (231)
Educational level
Illiterate	3.9 (39)
Primary school	30.5 (306)
Secondary school	14.8 (149)
High school	25.1 (252)
University	25.7 (258)
Region of birth
Marmara	22.4 (225)
Central Anatolia	16.5 (166)
Black Sea	15.3 (154)
Mediterranean	13.6 (137)
Aegean Sea	13.2 (133)
Eastern Anatolia	10.1 (101)
Southeast Anatolia	8.8 (88)

Table 2. Distribution of vaccine knowledge according to demographics

	Do you know what a vaccine is?
	No	Yes
DEMOGRAPHICS	n(%)	n(%)	p
Age
18 − 44	16 (2.2)	714 (97.8)	>.05
45 − 64	5 (2.4)	202 (97.6)
65 and over	3 (4.5)	64(95.5)
Gender
Male	16 (3.2)	487(96.8)	>.05
Female	8 (1.6)	493(98.4)
Educational level
Low	19 (3.8)	476(96.2)	.003
High	5 (1.0)	504(99.0)
Marital status
Married	9 (2.9)	305(97.1)	>.05
Single	15 (2.2)	675(97.8)
Employment
Unemployed/housewives/retired	9 (2.1)	417(97.9)	>.05
Blue collar worker	14(3.3)	405(96.7)
White collar worker	1(0.6)	158(99.4)
Income level
Low	10 (3.3)	297(96.7)	.022
Medium	14 (3.0)	447(97.0)
High	0 (0.0)	236(100.0)

Table 3. Vaccination history according to demographics

	Have you or your children ever been vaccinated?
	No	Yes
DEMOGRAPHICS	n(%)	n(%)	p
Age
18 − 44	46(6.3)	684 (93.7)	>.05
45 − 64	11(5.3)	196 (94.7)
65 and over	5(7.5)	62(92.5)
Gender
Male	30(6.0)	473 (94.0)	>.05
Female	32 (6.4)	469 (93.6)
Educational level
Low	32 (6.5)	463(93.5)	>.05
High	30 (5.9)	479(94.1)
Marital status
Married	37(11.8)	277 (88.2)	<.001
Single	25 (3.6)	665 (96.4)
Employment
Unemployed/housewives/retired	18(4.2)	408 (95.8)	>.05
Blue collar worker	33(7.9)	386 (92.1)
White collar worker	11(6.9)	148 (93.1)
Income level
Low	19 (6.2)	288 (93.8)	>.05
Medium	35 (7.6)	426 (92.4)
High	8 (3.4)	228 (96.6)

Table 4. Participant perspectives on vaccine benefit according to demographics

	Do you think that vaccines are beneficial?
	No	Yes	Don’t know Hesitant
DEMOGRAPHICS	% (n)	% (n)	% (n)	% (n)	p
Age
18 − 44	7.8 (57)	88.5 (646)	2.5 (18)	1.2(9)	>.05
45 − 64	4.4 (9)	90.3 (187)	3.4(7)	1.9(4)
65 and over	0	95.5 (64)	4.5(3)	0
Gender
Male	2.98(15)	93.24 (469)	3.2 (16)	0.6 (3)	<.001
Female	10.17(51)	85.42 (428)	2.4(12)	2.0 (10)
Educational status					<.001
Low	3.2 (16)	91.5 (453)	4.4 (22)	0.8 (4)
High	9.8 (50)	87.2 (444)	1.8(6)	1.8(9)
Employment
Unemployed/housewives/retired	4.7(20)	91.6 (390)	2.6 (11)	1.2 (5)	<.001
Blue collar worker	4.1(17)	90.7 (380)	3.6 (15)	1.7 (7)
White collar worker	18.2(29)	79.9 (127)	1.3(2)	0.6 (1)
Marital status
Married	8.9 (28)	86.6 (272)	3.8 (12)	0.6 (2)	>.05
Single	5.5 (38)	90.6 (625)	2.3 (16)	1.6 (11)
Income level
Low	3.3(10)	91.9 (282)	3.9(12)	1.0 (3)	<.001
Medium	4.8(22)	90.7(418)	3.3(15)	1.3 (6)
High	14.4(34)	83.4(197)	0.4(1)	1.7 (4)

Table 5. Regional distribution of participants who do not know what a vaccine is, have never been vaccinated, and think vaccines are non-beneficial

Region	Do not know what a vaccine is (p = .000) n(%)	Have never been vaccinated (p = .001) n(%)	Think vaccines arenon-beneficial (p = .001) n(%)
Marmara	1(0.4)	10(4.4)	19(8.4)
Central Anatolia	3(1.8)	9(5.4)	12(7.2)
Black Sea	3(2.0)	12(7.8)	6(3.9)
Mediterranean	1(0.7)	4(2.9)	12(8.8)
Aegean Sea	2(1.5)	3(2.3)	8(6.0)
Eastern Anatolia	7(6.9)	11(10.9)	3(3.0)
SoutheastAnatolia	7(8.0)	13(14.8)	6(6.8)
Total	24(2.39)	62(6.2)	66(6.6)

Table 6. Distributions of the reasons why the vaccine isnot beneficial

Reasons	n	% (Participants stated why)	% (All participants)
I do not trust vaccine companies	57	43.84	5.67
I heard it was harmful from the TV and the internet.	31	23.84	3.09
My family doesn't recommend it.	12	9.23	1.19
I don't trust health workers.	7	5.38	0.70
I believe it contains harmful substances	7	5.38	0.70
My family doctor doesn't recommend	2	1.53	0.20
I don’t know	14	10.76	1.39
Total	130	100.00	12.74