@article{Shabir_A-2023_138779,
title = {COVID-19 vaccination status as well as factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and hesitancy among prisoners and the implications},
author = {Shabir, A. and AlKubaisi, N. and Shafiq, A. and Salman, M. and Baraka, M. and Mustafa, Z. and Khan, Y. and Mallhi, T. and Meyer, J. and Godman, B.},
month = {jun},
year = {2023},
abstract = {Prisoners are among the high-risk population highly vulnerable to COVID-19 due to over-crowding, limited movement and poor living environment. Consequently, there is a need to ascertain the status of COVID-19 vaccination and factors associated with their hesitancy among prisoners. A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was undertaken among prisoners at three district jails of province Punjab, Pakistan. A total of 381 prisoners participated and none of the study participants had received influenza vaccine this year. 53% received at-least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, with the majority having two doses. The top three reasons of vaccine acceptance were “fear of contracting SARS-CoV-2 infection” (56.9%), “desire to return to pre-pandemic routine as soon as possible” (56.4%) and “having no doubts on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines” (39.6%). There was no statistically significant difference (p &gt; 0.05) of any demographic variables between vaccinated and unvaccinated prisoners except for age, which had strong association with COVID-19 vaccine uptake (χ2(3) = 76.645, p &lt; 0.001, Cramer’s V = 0.457). Among the unvaccinated prisoners (N = 179), only 16 subsequently showed willingness to take COVID-19 vaccine. Top five reasons for hesitancy were COVID-19 is not a real problem/disease (60.1%), safety concerns (51.1%), and COVID-19 vac-cine is a conspiracy (50.3%). Efforts are needed to address their concerns given this population and high hesitancy rates especially among younger prisoners.},
volume = {11},
issue = {6},
journal = {Vaccines},
publisher = {MDPI},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11061081},
}
