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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Policy
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1465762

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and Attitudes towards Routine Vaccinations among Venezuelan Migrants in Trinidad and Tobago: Implications for a National Immunization Policy

Provisionally accepted
Nyla Lyons Nyla Lyons 1Brendon Bhagwandeen Brendon Bhagwandeen 2*Blair Gopeechan Blair Gopeechan 3Jeffrey Edwards Jeffrey Edwards 1
  • 1 Medical Research Foundation of Trinidad and Tobago, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
  • 2 Heriot-Watt University Malaysia, Putrajaya, Malaysia
  • 3 Living Water Community, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Vaccine hesitancy poses a threat to the prevention of COVID-19 and other vaccinecontrolled diseases. In 2019, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago launched a policy outlining the scope of health services in the public sector available to registered Venezuelan migrants to include access to routine immunizations. Little is understood about immunization uptake among migrants, including the uptake of COVID-19 vaccinations in Trinidad and Tobago.Method: Between July and October 2022, a survey was conducted using a sample of n = 507 Venezuelan migrants. We examined the relationship between COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, migrant's attitudes towards past vaccinations, their beliefs and perceptions about COVID-19 disease, and health-service related factors. Descriptive statistics summarized the characteristics of these migrants. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals and multivariable logistic regression was used to examine factors and attitudes associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.Results: Our findings showed that 89% of the migrants accessed publicly available health services while in Trinidad and Tobago, 72.4% reported that they did not refuse other vaccines in the past, and 23% reported being hesitant to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Females had higher odds of being COVID-19 vaccine hesitant compared to males, and participants expressing doubts about the source of vaccine information also had greater odds of vaccine hesitancy. Long waiting times at a public health clinic and costs associated with travelling to a clinic were associated with higher odds of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.A National Immunization Policy inclusive of the unmet needs of vulnerable migrant populations is needed to ensure equitable access to vaccinations.

    Keywords: COVID-19, Immunization, migrants, policy, Trinidad & Tobago, Vaccine hesitancy, Venezuelan

    Received: 16 Jul 2024; Accepted: 19 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Lyons, Bhagwandeen, Gopeechan and Edwards. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Brendon Bhagwandeen, Heriot-Watt University Malaysia, Putrajaya, 62200, Malaysia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.