Covid-19 second dose vaccine uptake and associated factors: A community-based cross-sectional study among adults in Masindi district in Uganda

In Masindi district, Uganda, only 44.0% of adults who received the first COVID-19 vaccine dose completed the second dose, highlighting low completion of the two-dose schedule.

• Why it matters: Despite relatively high first-dose uptake, low second-dose completion threatens herd immunity and the effectiveness of Uganda’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign, especially in Masindi district.
• What they did: A community-based cross-sectional survey of 637 adults used multi-stage random sampling, interviewer-administered questionnaires, and modified Poisson regression to estimate adjusted prevalence ratios (APRs) for second-dose uptake.
• The result: Higher uptake was linked to high economic status (APR=2.2), urban residence (APR=1.3), high perceived risk (APR=2.0), chronic illness (APR=1.9), proximity (<1 km) (APR=2.0), short waiting times (<30 minutes) (APR=1.7), and community support/outreach and radio/TV information; vaccine shortages (APR=0.4) and adverse side effects after dose one (APR=0.8) reduced uptake.