AUTHOR=Siddiqui Amna , Priya  , Adnan Alishba , Abbas Samina , Qamar Khulud , Islam Zarmina , Rahmat Zainab Syyeda , Essar Mohammad Yasir , Farahat Ramadan Abdelmoez 

TITLE=COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in conflict zones: A review of current literature

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1006271

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.1006271

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Background: Vaccine hesitancy (VH) is prevalent in conflict zones due to a lack of essential resources and knowledge, thereby escalating the COVID-19 cases in these territories. This has resulted in a higher incidence of cases from exposure to a single COVID-19 positive case and further burdens the health care system of conflict zones which are already on the brink of collapsing.
Aim: This narrative review aims to determine VH to the SARS-COV-2 vaccine in five conflict zones that include Somalia, Yemen, Palestine, Syria, and Afghanistan.
Methodology: A Boolean search was carried out in MEDLINE-PubMed from inception till 6 June 2022. The search was performed by using the following keywords: “(SARS-COV-2 OR covid OR covid 19) AND (vaccine hesitancy OR covid vaccine acceptance OR intention to vaccinate) AND (Syria OR Yemen OR Palestine OR Afghanistan OR Somalia”).  The full text of all relevant articles in English along with their supplementary material was extracted.
Results:  All the included studies reported at least 30% or more increase in vaccine hesitancy among conflict settings. VH was mostly due to a lack of available resources, lack of appropriate knowledge, and believing misleading rumours about the vaccine.
Conclusion: The approach described in this article to combat VH can be implemented to increase vaccination rates and significantly alleviate R0   across the globe.
Keywords: COVID-19, vaccine hesitancy, conflict zones