A cross-sectional regional study looking at the factors responsible for the low COVID-19 vaccination rate in Nigeria.

Introduction: COVID-19 vaccination has been rolled out in Nigeria, with low uptake often attributed to shortage of the vaccine. We set out to find out the current trend so far and to the best of our knowledge, our study is one of the early studies since the roll out in the region looking at the real situation on ground. This will guide multidisciplinary decision making at increasing uptake of the vaccine.

Methods: this is a descriptive cross-sectional study in the 5 South-Eastern States in Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was given to the members of the public to answer themselves or via the help of an interviewer. Data was analysed in SPSS and associations between variables compared using Chi square.

Results: there are 1283 respondents in this study. Of this number, only 105 (8.2%) have had at least one of the vaccine doses. Stated reasons for not having been vaccinated are side effects (n=370, 31.5%), access to a vaccination centre (n= 239, 20.4%) and belief in one's own immunity 186 (15.5). Having a health-related degree (p-value of 0.021), non-governmental employees (p-value of 0.003), private sector employees (p-value of 0.029) and public sector employees (p-value of 0.009) are associated with relatively higher vaccination rates.

Conclusion: vaccination rate in Nigeria is still very low. Fear of side effect which is enhanced by mystical thinking is the leading factor for low turnout not just shortages. All forms of employed jobs, age and higher qualification all have significant p-values (p<0.05) and associated with higher uptake of the vaccine.