Barriers to Covid-19 Vaccine Acceptance Among Health Workers

COVID-19 (the popular name for the Coronavirus Disease 2019), is a disease of the respiratory system caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, Corona Virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), and it was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on the 11th of March, 2020. Frantic efforts have been put in place by the local, state and federal government to curb the spread and effect of covid-19 pandemic with the use of vaccines. Rather than being celebrated, the eventual discovery of systems of vaccination against COVID-19 pandemic was otherwise greeted with pessimism, causing attrition and low uptake of the vaccines in some cultures, especially in African countries. The disease kept on spreading and causing havoc. Despite having a number of COVID-19 vaccines available and approved for public use, the uptake appears to be low. Some of the reasons for this low uptake may include level of trust in the healthcare system, educational background, presence of conspiracy theories, social, traditional and religious beliefs, social media, fear of adverse side effects, personal risk perception. This paper recommends that the government should create more awareness about COVID-19 vaccination and make available the trials which the vaccines had gone through to health workers so as to convince them on the acceptance of the vaccines. Keywords: Acceptance, Barriers, COVID-19, Health Workers Vaccine