Population and vaccine hesitancy: a demographic and Socio-behavioural examination of a barrier to Covid-19 herd immunity in Nigeria

The theme of the 76th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly (2021) stresses on the need to tackle the global coronavirus pandemic and other challenging issues presently staring our world in the face. World leaders have tried to contribute their own quota towards changing the present narrative by vaccinating a large portion of their population. However, vaccine hesitancy has served as a barrier to achieving herd immunity in nations-Nigeria inclusive. The sociological theory of phenomenology and the concept of ‘‘sick role’’ were employed as the theoretical framework upon which the study was anchored. Descriptive cross-sectional survey and purposive sampling were used in the work. Data for the study was generated through primary (online survey of 150 respondents) and secondary sources. The content and thematic techniques were used to analyze the data so gathered. The causal factors of vaccine hesitancy in Nigeria were uncovered to include: ‘negative human awareness’, lack of or low public knowledge/agreement on public health need of the vaccine, disconnect (public mistrust of government) between the people and government and lack of awareness/proximity of vaccination points, among others. The paper recommends strategies for massive advocacy/social mobilization to counter negative social interaction and narratives making the rounds on the intake of the COVID-19 vaccine by the Nigerian populace to build general consensus on the need for the vaccine and adoption of the Nigeria Polio vaccination model of taking vaccine down to the people.