Background
The COVID-19 vaccines provide renewed hope in the fight against the recent pandemic. To ensure widespread vaccination, it is crucial to analyze vaccine willingness and its determinants among physicians, key health care influencers. This study aimed to assess acceptance rate and identify factors associated with vaccine hesitancy among Thai physicians. A cross-sectional online-based questionnaire was distributed to all physicians at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital during March 31, 2021 to April 30, 2021 in order to assess their attitudes toward receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Reasons for vaccine acceptance and refusal as well as predictors of vaccine hesitancy were analyzed by bivariate and multivariable analysis.Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a disease caused by a
newly emerging novel coronavirus called Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) that
appeared in late 2019 disseminating to cause a global
pandemic in 2020[1].The name COVID-19 was announced by
the World Health Organization (WHO) in February 2020,
following guidelines previously developed with the World
Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations
[2].The advent of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China in December
2019 has created an extraordinary challenge to the global
health system which was eventually declared a global
pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11
March 2020 and has been associated with over 3 Million
deaths as at mid-April 2021[3], [4]. COVID-19 has not only
become a public health crisis but has also affected the global
economy thereby creating a significant economic impact
across the globe due to reduced productivity, loss of life,
business closures, trade disruptions, and devastation of the
tourism industry among others [5].
Many African countries have gone far in rolling out their
distribution plans for the COVID-19 vaccines which they
have procured, only few countries lag behind the rest of the
world on vaccine rollout which accounts for less than 2% of all COVID-19 vaccines administered worldwide while
countries like Britain have given almost half of the population
the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine[15], [16].To guide
needed communications and engagement strategies to support
the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, it is vital to understand
public attitudes across Africa [4]. The availability of a safe
and effective vaccine will make a remarkable contribution to
stop the COVID-19 pandemic by preventing the susceptible
population from infection and disease, stopping viral
transmission, and improving herd immunity[39].The situation
largely mirrors the challenges with vaccine rollout which the
rest of Africa will be working to overcome in the fight to end
the pandemic[16].