Page 92 - IJPS-10-1

International Journal of

Population Studies

RESEARCH ARTICLE
“Does a healthy man need vaccination?”:

Attitudes of older adults toward COVID-19
vaccine in South-East Nigeria

2
2,3
Samuel O. Ebimgbo *, Yemi Adewoyin , Chukwuedozie K. Ajaero , and
1
Uzoma O. Okoye 1
1 Department of Social Work, Faculty of the Social Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu
State, Nigeria
2 Department of Geography, Faculty of the Social Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu
State, Nigeria
3 Demography and Population Studies Programme, Schools of Public Health and Social Sciences,
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
(This article belongs to Special Issue: Population and Reproductive Health Dynamics under
Covid-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic appears to be impeding the progress of the United Nations’
Sustainable Development Goal and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 in achieving
optimal health and well-being for individuals, particularly older adults. Numerous
older adults have succumbed to the virus, exacerbating existing global health
*Corresponding author: challenges. In response, scientists worldwide have developed a vaccine to alleviate
Samuel O. Ebimgbo the substantial disease burden. The Nigerian government has mandated the
(samuel.ebimgbo@unn.edu.ng)
prioritized vaccination of older adults. This study aims to investigate the attitudes of
Citation: Ebimgbo, S.O., older adults toward the COVID-19 vaccine. Data were collected from 32 older adults
Adewoyin, Y., Ajaero, C.K. & through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Thematic analysis was
Okoye, U.O. (2024). “Does a
healthy man need vaccination?”: employed to derive meaningful patterns from the collected data. The findings reveal
Attitudes of older adults toward a prevailing lack of awareness among older adults regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.
COVID-19 vaccine in South-East They asserted that they perceived no need for vaccinations, asserting their current
Nigeria. International Journal of
Population Studies, 10(1):86-97. state of health. In addition, concerns were raised about potential adverse effects
https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.359 of the vaccine, including the onset of other illnesses. This study suggests that the
Received: September 19, 2022 Nigerian government, through its orientation agencies, undertakes comprehensive
public education campaigns highlighting the importance of COVID-19 vaccine
Accepted: December 1, 2023
uptake.
Published Online: January 9, 2024
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). Keywords: COVID-19; Hesitancy; Older adults; Pandemic; Vaccine
This is an Open-Access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, 1. Introduction
provided the original work is
properly cited. Human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS),
Publisher’s Note: AccScience diabetes, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, and cardiovascular conditions are among
Publishing remains neutral with the health challenges that affect older adults in Nigeria. Previous studies indicate that
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional older adults generally hold positive attitudes toward vaccines targeting some of these
affiliations. diseases (Figueiredo et al., 2021; Nakajima et al., 2021). However, there is a notable

Volume 10 Issue 1 (2024) 86 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.359