COVID-19 Vaccination Hesitancy Model: The Impact of Vaccine Education on Controlling the Outbreak

The coronavirus outbreak continues to pose a significant challenge to human lives globally. Many efforts have been made to develop vaccines to control the spread of this virus. However, with the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine, there is hesitancy and a mixed reaction toward getting the vaccine. Public education on COVID-19 immunization is essential to vaccinate a large proportion of the population. In this study, we demonstrate the usefulness of public education on the COVID-19 vaccine and its effects in containing the spread of the disease. In particular, we use a compartmental model with vaccine education to study the dynamics of the COVID-19 infection. We classify the total population into two subgroups: Those willing to accept the vaccine and those unwilling to receive the vaccine. We incorporate vaccine education for the general public hesitant to get the vaccine. We then analyze and investigate the impacts of education on individuals reluctant to get vaccinated. The findings indicate that vaccine education can substantially minimize the daily cumulative cases and deaths of COVID-19. The results also show that vaccine education significantly increases the number of willing susceptible individuals, and with a high vaccination rate and vaccine effectiveness, the outbreak can be controlled. Based on the findings, we recommend that eligible individuals acquire the vaccine to help curb the COVID-19 outbreak by slowing the spread of the virus.