Factors Associated with Belief in Vaccine Protection Against COVID-19 in Côte d'Ivoire, 2022

<i>Background.</i> Coronavirus 2019 or COVID-19 is an emerging respiratory disease caused by a new human coronavirus first detected in December 2019, in Wuhan, China. Beliefs and perceptions play an important role in the adoption of health behaviors. <i>Objective</i>. The objective of this study is to identify factors associated with belief in vaccine protection against COVID-19 in Côte d'Ivoire. <i>Method. </i>We carried out a cross-sectional survey for analytical purposes. We conducted a two-stage cluster survey. The first stage involved selecting 40 clusters in each district, by systematic random sampling. The second stage consisted in selecting the households. In each household, the person surveyed was the head of household. In his absence, the head of household's representative was interviewed. The dependent variable was the belief in COVID-19 vaccine protection. Factors associated with the dependent variable were identified using logistic regression. The measure of association was the Adjusted Odds Ratio (ajOR) with a 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Data were analyzed using PASW Statistics 18. <i>Result. </i>A total of 3,611 people were surveyed including 53% of females, 87 of individuals aged 18 to 59 years, 48% of Christian, 47% of Muslim, and 49% of vaccinated individuals. Factors associated with belief in COVID-19 vaccine protection were cohabitation (ajOR 1.71 [1.27 – 2.31]), religion (ajOR 0.58 [0.43 – 0.79]) and age (ajOR [ajOR 0.37 [0.16 – 0.86]). <i>Conclusion. </i>Socio-demographic factors associated with belief in vaccine protection against COVID-19 in our study were marital status, religion, and age. Health authorities should take into account these factors in developing strategies to increase COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Qualitative studies could be carried out to understand the underlying reasons behind the belief in vaccine protection against COVID-19 or the reasons for COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy or refusal.