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.

Key words: COVID-19 Vaccination; Acceptance; Hesitancy; Global population