Demographic Factors Affecting Acceptability of COVID 19 Vaccination: Experience from Community Members in Iringa Municipality

Abstract

COVID 19 vaccination was fast key intervention against the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccine acceptance among community members is essential to promote uptake. This study, aimed to examine how demographic factors affected accessibility of COVID 19 vaccination in Tanzania among community members. The study was mixed method research approach in nature where cross section research design was used to capture data at one time. The study employed a sample size of 120 respondents, including vaccinated, non vaccinated, key informants and respondents for focus group discussion from three wards in Iringa Municipality 0n June to July 2022.  Simple random sampling was used to select 54 non vaccinated and 10 respondents for focus group discussion, snow ball for 54 vaccinated and purposively for 2 key informants. Both qualitative and quantitative data gathering techniques were employed in the study. Using descriptive statistical analysis, findings revealed that demographic factors such as elderly people, men, people with low education and entrepreneurs have an effect on public acceptance of the Covid-19 vaccine. In fact, administering vaccines has a big influence on the success of handling the Covid-19 pandemic. For this reason, it is necessary to carry out further studies regarding the effect of these factors in receiving the Covid-19 vaccine.