Acceptance of malaria vaccine among mothers of under-five children in Nigeria: Results from the M-VAN survey

Background: Malaria is one of the most common causes of death among children under 5 years of age in sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria accounts for 1 in every 4 global malaria incidences and deaths. We evaluated the prevalence and correlates of malaria vaccine acceptance among mothers of children under 5 years in Nigeria. 

Methods: A convenient sample of mothers of children under the age of 5 was recruited via a cross-sectional online survey conducted between 20 and 25 October 2021. Participants who replied ‘yes’ to a questionnaire assessing their willingness to accept the malaria vaccine were considered “acceptant”. We fit a multivariate logistic regression model to report the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the factors associated with vaccine acceptance. 

Results: Among the 595 participants (mean age 35 years [SD; 9.84]), 463 (77.82%) were willing to accept a malaria vaccine for their children. The results of our multivariable analysis showed that belonging to the Hausa tribe is associated with significantly higher odds of acceptance, compared to Igbo (aOR: 2.78, 95% CI:1.09–7.14) and other tribes (aOR:2.27, 95% CI: 1.11–4.55). The most common reasons for malaria vaccine acceptance include preventing the development of complicated malaria, reducing the frequency of malaria episodes in children, improving a child's quality of life, and reducing the number of school hours lost to malaria. 

Conclusion: Further efforts are needed to understand the cultural barriers to malaria vaccine acceptance in order to maximize malaria vaccine uptake when the actual vaccine roll-out commences.