Date Posted: June 10, 2026

Author/s: Faye Kathreen B. Ocampo, RMT, MD1 ; Michael Ian Sta. Maria, MD, DCFM1,6; Macario F. Reandelar Jr., MD, MSPH (Biostat), FPAFP1,2,3,4,5 and Milagros F. Neri, MD, MA, MPH, MS (Bioethics), FPAFP

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically affected the world and our country. One of the keys to the Philippines’ fight against this COVID-19 pandemic was using the COVID-19 vaccines against it. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Specifically, it aimed to determine the perceptions and reasons for vaccine acceptance and factors affecting it in terms of the sociodemographic profile, such as age, religion, sex, civil status, highest educational attainment, family monthly income, presence of a comorbid condition, employment status, occupation, influential person, and source of information on COVID-19 vaccines.

Methods: A non-probability convenience sampling using social media as the source of participants in the study. A total of 3,097 participants were included in the study. A face-validated self-administered online questionnaire was used. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data collected. Determining factors affecting vaccine acceptance was analyzed in the univariate and multivariate statistics. Chi-square test and logistic regression were used in the univariate analysis, odds ratio and the 95% Confidence interval were determined. Multinomial logistic regression was utilized in the multivariate analysis with a level of significance set at alpha=0.05. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22 was used in the study.

Results: This study showed that less than 2% of the population is hesitant to COVID-19 vaccination. The main reasons for vaccine acceptance, among others, were the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweighing the possible side effects, the importance of everyone being eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine, and that people trust the healthcare worker in advising them to get the COVID-19 vaccine. On the other hand, the top reasons for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy were individuals’ fear of the side effects of the herein vaccine, reading news regarding people dying from the said vaccine, and the respondents do not trust the COVID-19 vaccines. Present study also showed that religion and family economic status were significantly associated with vaccine acceptance.

Conclusion: During the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out, religion, and family economic status were significantly associated with vaccine acceptance.

Keywords:
COVID-19, vaccine acceptance, vaccine hesitancy, vaccine uptake