Factor Affecting COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Bangladesh: An Empirical Investigation

Abstract

\n This study aims to look at the causes of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Bangladesh by examining the cultural and religious values, lack of trust, misinformation, and fear of side effects as predictors of vaccine hesitancy. Self-developed measurement items, developed based on the expert s opinion, were used to accomplish the objective. Data was gathered from 268 respondents who represented their community through both an online and a physical survey. SPSS version 25 was used to optimize descriptive statistics. Besides, SmartPLS 3.0 was used to examine the hypotheses using the PLS-SEM approach. The study confirms that lack of trust, misinformation and fear of side effects all play a role in vaccine hesitancy. Besides, the results have many significant implications for public health policymakers, vaccine manufacturers and distributors, and the media. Besides that, the study proposes some new research avenues for overcoming this study s limitations and gaining more detailed information on the topic.