| dc.description.abstract | The coronavirus disease has posed a
significant threat all over the world. Vaccination
has been identified as the most effective and
safest solution to recover from the pandemic.
However, vaccine hesitancy stands out as the
foremost barrier to global vaccination coverage.
The purpose of this study is to explore the
prevalence of the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy
among young adults in Sri Lanka. This research
was carried out as a quantitative cross-sectional
survey, which is majorly based on five districts in
Sri Lanka. An online questionnaire collected
data from 601 young adults aged 15 to 35 years,
who were selected through crowdsourcing and
a simple random sampling technique. According
to descriptive statistics, COVID-19 vaccine
hesitancy has gradually increased over three
phases of hesitancy: initial doses (37%), booster
doses (59%), and response to future vaccination
(60%). Females, married respondents, and
Sinopharm recipients were the most hesitant,
with side effects and allergy issues being the
most common concerns. In terms of vaccine
awareness, the majority show less awareness,
owing to their increased exposure to social
media information (60%). Furthermore, 34% of
respondents, the vaccine was prescribed
because it was mandated by a third party.
Besides This study provided extensive
information about the COVID-19 immunization
program and its impact on vaccine hesitancy
and refusal. The study's findings are concerning,
and stakeholders must consider the identified
gaps in order to execute mitigation plans in
future vaccination programs | en_US |
