COVID-19 Vaccination Status and Hesitancy: Survey Evidence from Rural India

Sneha Shashidhara (), Sharon Barnhardt and Shagata Mukherjee ()
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Sneha Shashidhara: Ashoka University
Sharon Barnhardt: Ashoka University
Shagata Mukherjee: Ashoka University

Chapter Chapter 11 in Contextualizing the COVID Pandemic in India, 2023, pp 225-247 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract While vaccine hesitancy has been a large part of the COVID-19 vaccination discourse in India, there is a significant lack of empirical evidence about hesitancy in rural India. To bridge this gap, we conducted a quasi-representative, in-person survey spanning 32 districts across rural Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in India to comprehensively characterize the barriers to vaccination and understand the attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine. We surveyed 6319 adults during April and May of 2022, of which 36% were unvaccinated, 33% were partially vaccinated, and 31% were fully vaccinated. Overall, there was a high intention to get vaccinated among the unvaccinated, with only 20% saying they would never get a vaccine for COVID. We use probit models to estimate the relationships between demographic variables and being vaccinated and the associations between stated barriers and vaccination status. The primary barriers were pregnancy and breastfeeding, and pre-existing medical conditions. The unvaccinated had lower vaccine-related knowledge, more misinformation, and less vaccine-related trust in medical professionals but assigned similar importance to COVID-appropriate behaviors. We also establish a high intention to vaccinate children against COVID, although it varies among adult vaccination statuses, with unvaccinated parents being the least willing to vaccinate their children.

Keywords: Vaccine hesitancy; Rural India; COVID; Maternal health; Behavior science (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:isbchp:978-981-99-4906-9_11

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DOI: 10.1007/978-981-99-4906-9_11

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