Vaccine confidence and attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination in early stage of the pandemic in Vietnam: a cross-sectional study

Background: Understanding level of vaccine confidence and its influencing factors plays an important role in winning the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines and in designing viable strategies for effective implementation of mass vaccination. Objective: This study aimed to describe the vaccine confidence and attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination in Vietnam, and explore factors associated with vaccine confidence among Vietnamese adults. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 725 adults in Hanoi, Vietnam. Data was collected online by KoboToolbox and Google Forms and then analyzed by Stata 14 software. ANOVA test, t-test and Poisson regression were applied to examine the difference between participants with different characteristics and identify factors associated with level of vaccine confidence. Results: Among 725 respondents, the majority were from the Kinh ethnic group, stated no religion, were child-free and had a university education . Nearly 50% of participants were unsure about having COVID-19 vaccination and worried about vaccine complications that might happen to them and their families. Vaccine confidence score was significantly higher in single, child-free, lower-monthly-income respondents and people who sought information about COVID-19 vaccination (p-value < 0.05). Among people seeking information about the vaccine, the Internet and social media were the most frequently used sources of information. Factors associated with the vaccine confidence score include gender, ethnic group, religion, number of children, monthly income and information-seeking behavior towards vaccination. Conclusion: This study contributes insight in the early stages of similar situations occurring in the future when responding to epidemics without a vaccine. In order to improve vaccine confidence of the public, it is important to affirm the efficacy and safety, and control the spread of fake news and disinformation about the vaccine.