• Didem Sarimehmet, Yakup Kadri Sarimehmet, Bahar Candas Altinbas, and Cuneyt Ardic.
• Didem Sarimehmet, Lecturer, Vocational School of Health Services, Department of Medical Services and Techniques, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey.
• Pak J Med Sci. 2024 Mar 1; 40 (4): 730735730-735.

ObjectiveTo find out the opinions concerning vaccine hesitancy of people and influencing factors who had not received COVID-19 vaccination.MethodsThis is a descriptive cross-sectional study. It was carried out between February and April 2022 with individuals who were not vaccinated against COVID-19. It included 634 participants registered at a family health center in Rize, Turkey. Data were collected by telephone using a questionnaire. For statistical analysis, the R programming language was used. The Boruta algorithm was used to rank the variables associated to the reasons for not trusting the vaccine.Results"I do not trust vaccines (67%)" is the most frequently cited reason for not being vaccinated. The most often cited reasons for not trusting vaccinations are that vaccines are produced for the benefit of foreign companies (56.2%), vaccines are ineffective (55.5%), and vaccines have not undergone sufficient scrutiny (53.2%). According to Boruta analyses, the top three variables most closely associated with not trusting COVID-19 vaccines were belief that vaccines are produced for the benefit of foreign countries/vaccines companies, imported vaccines have not undergone sufficient scrutiny, and vaccines being ineffective.ConclusionsPeople do not get vaccinated because they do not trust vaccinations due to concerns about their safety, effectiveness, political influences, and potential adverse effects.Copyright: © Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences.

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