Abstract:
People's concern toward vaccination is increasingly a major contributor to
poor vaccine uptake, coverage and disease outbreaks. Despite poor vaccine
uptake among international tourists attributed to concerns, research has rarely
empirically investigated what constitutes travel vaccination concerns and its
relationship with uptake among tourists. This study sought to propose a scale
for measuring travel vaccination concerns; explore the underlying reasons of
these concern s; examine the relationship between concerns and vaccine uptake
and ; thus, propose a tourist typology based on their vaccination concerns. A
mixed method approach was employed. Qualitative data were first collected
through online data mining of 1,235 posts and field in-depth interviews of 20
respondents. This was followed by a survey of 1,032 inbound tourists in
Ghana, using a questionnaire to collect quantitative data. The qualitative data
were analysed thematically while structural equation modelling, ratio and logistic regression, and cluster analysis were used in the analysis of the
quantitative data. A six-dimensional travel vaccination concern scale was identified with its facets being efficacy, safety, cost, time, access and ethical
c ncerns. These concerns were influenced by respondents' socio-demographic
characteristics, tripographics, vaccination information seeking behaviour and
vaccination literacy. A significant relationship also existed between concerns
and vaccine uptake. Consequently a typology of vaccination concerned
tourists, which is made up of Crits. Passives and Fluiders, was identified. In
view of this, travel medicine professionals, the World Health Organisation,
governments and pharmaceutical companies need proper monitoring and
understanding of tourists' travel vaccination concerns and targeted
interventions to improve vaccine uptake.
