Magnitude of Childhood Vaccine Hesitancy and Associated Individual/Social Group Factors among Parents in Degahbur Town, Somali Region, Ethiopia

Since the introduction of effective and safe vaccines, vaccination has made enormous contributions to public health. Throughout its time, the effectiveness of vaccination programs were governed by multiple factors. Vaccine hesitancy is an emerging public health concern which gained more attention in recent years. Magnitude of vaccine hesitancy is not well known across many parts of the world. The objective of this study was to assess magnitude of childhood vaccine hesitancy and associated individual/social group factors among parents in Degahbur town. Community based cross-sectional study was undertaken in 422 households. Cluster sampling technique was employed to select six study units in Degahbur. Structured questionnaire was used for data collection. EPIDATA 3.02 was used for data entry and SPSS version 20 for data analysis. Bivariate and multivariate analysis was conducted to check the associations between outcome and explanatory variables using binary logistic regression model. Out of the total 422 households selected, 412 (97.6%) have responded to the interviews. From the 412 study participants, 46 (11.2%) were labelled as vaccine hesitant. Perceiving vaccination as not health beneficial (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) = 3.84, 95% CI (1.2, 13.6)), Beliefs in other alternatives (AOR= 4.8, 95% CI (1.5, 15.4)), beliefs that vaccination can’t protect children from serious diseases (AOR= 5.82, 95% CI (1.3, 25.6)) and being daily laborer (AOR= 12.9, 95% CI (2.6, 63.5) were predictors of vaccine hesitancy.Magnitude of childhood vaccine hesitancy in Degahbur is lower than that reported in other studies. In this study, negative perceptions and beliefs towards vaccines and occupation of parents are associated with vaccine hesitancy. Community based health education programs and vaccination surveillance system should be advocated and developed