https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6882-1097
We would like to thank you for your interesting comments. There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has constituted a public health emergency in Vietnam and globally. With the continuing challenges, material and information used as tools to manage the pandemic need to be urgently revised in response to current affairs and changes in the community. Despite the global increase in COVID-19 infections, Vietnam’s low-cost response model to prior public health challenges emphasizes the critical role of a strategic public health system, sound governance, and the cooperation of the population in order to fight against public health issues, including the COVID 19 pandemic [Citation1]. Concretized examples of care ethics in Vietnam’s reaction to the COVID-19 outbreak include concern for vulnerable social groups and maintaining not only societal but also personal security [Citation2].
Our study applied the Health Belief Model (HBM) as a theoretical framework for developing a predictor of vaccination hesitancy, which is known as one of the most widely utilized conceptual frameworks in health-related behavior research [Citation3,Citation4]. The HBM emphasizes how individual behaviors have an important role to play in the understanding of how to improve a person’s health, and focuses on individual characteristics as the unit of change such as knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and personality traits, which are used to understand why people do or do not take part in preventive behaviors, including vaccination [Citation3]. For a new vaccine-like COVID-19, the HBM has also been proven to be a good predictor of the perceived desire to get a COVID-19 vaccination and accounts for 30% of the variation in our earlier study [Citation5].
Reader suggested that the factors associated with hesitancy might rapidly change in different periods of pandemic. We believe that individuals’ preventative activities will vary in diverse situations with different contexts of health practices and culture, and all of which can alter over time. Nevertheless, at the time of the survey (between January 21 and 20 April 2021), COVID-19 vaccines for children (under 18 years old) were not approved in Vietnam. Since the middle of October 2021, indications have been present of an intention to implement immunization strategies for younger member of the community aged 12 to 17. Besides, the government would collaborate with vaccine suppliers and accelerate domestic vaccine research to obtain vaccines as quickly as possible for children under the age of 12. Consequently, there was little information regarding COVID-19 vaccination for children, or its adverse effects, that could have significantly influenced parents’ intention or hesitancy to vaccinate their children. Moreover, our study also identified the reasons for individuals’ hesitancy, which aided policymakers in determining which problems and factors to prioritize and in comprehending key elements of the current context, from which they can design and craft well-tailored interventions or messages for a specific community group. Our findings have been applied to health education communication prior to mass vaccination campaigns, with success beyond the stated expectations, with the rate of individuals aged 12 and over completing 2nd dose accounting for 77.7% [Citation6].
In conclusion, health communications must be based on sound theory and appropriate practice strategies for a given scenario and period. Before each vaccination campaign, the primary goal will be to develop communication interventions that result in a behavior change to reduce vaccine rejection and vaccine uptake delays.
Disclosure of any financial/other conflicts of interest
The authors have no relevant conflicts of interest to disclose. Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.
Additional information
Funding
References
- Nguyen TYC, Hermoso C, Laguilles EM, et al. Vietnam’s success story against COVID-19. Public Health Pract (Oxf). 2021;2:100132.
- Ivic S. Vietnam’s Response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Abr. 2020;12(3):341–347.
- Janz NK, Becker MH. The health belief model: a decade later. Health Educ J. 1984;11(1):1–47.
- Iyigun E, Tastan S, Ayhan H, et al. Validity and reliability analysis of the planned behavior theory scale related to the testicular self-examination in a Turkish context. Postgrad Med. 2016;128(5):496–501.
- An PL, Nguyen HTN, Dang HTB, et al. integrating health behavior theories to predict intention to get a COVID-19 Vaccine. Health Serv Insights. 2021;14:11786329211060130.
- WHO. COVID-19 in Vietnam situation report 86. 2022 cited 2022 Apr 11. https://www.who.int/vietnam/internal-publications-detail/covid-19-in-viet-nam-situation-report-86