Malik, A. A., McFadden, S. M., Elharake, J., & Omer, S. B. (2020).

Determinants of
COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in the US. EClinicalMedicine, 26, 100495.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100495

The research surveyed around 672 participants asking them how willing they were to take a Covid-19
vaccine when made available. The participants were majority non-Hispanic white (65%) and most of
them had a college degree. The survey results showed that around 67% of the participants were
willing to take a Covid-19 vaccine. The willingness to accept the vaccine was affected by different
factors like age, gender, race, and education. For example, African-Americans were the most group
to hesitate and refuse taking a vaccine. This could be related to how they feel about the government
and how much they actually trust it given the circumstances they had to go through and live by in the
past. Moreover, education could’ve been another factor that affected the African-American
communities’ decision. Most of the participants from that communities came from lower economic
levels and were more likely to not have received a decent level of education let alone a college
degree. This i.e., education being a factor in the decisions were stressed by the paper in its discussion
part. Furthermore, the need to hear the other side’s voice and not label all their points and concerns
as delusion or mere uneducated opinion was also mentioned. The research concluded by saying the
importance of herd immunity and how the results found weren’t enough to achieve it. It stated that
the government and policymakers should put a lot of effort and resources into educating the masses
more about the covid-19 vaccine and vaccines in general while also taking into consideration the
views of those who don’t believe in a vaccine to try and improve the public’s view on the vaccine in
general.

This thorough study showcased the concern many people had with the COVID-19 vaccines and how
due to that a large percentage of the population were expected to not be vaccinated. The question
this article poses is the basis to me proposing this research. The main reason was that whatever the
truth is it is important and should be made public. Due to possible false information and conspiracy
theories many people might end up harming themselves and others by choosing to not take up the
vaccine. On the contrary, if these concerns turn out to have a truthful side, we might end up hurting
a large number of the next generation by pushing these vaccines. Neither of these outcomes is
acceptable and that is why spending resources and taking the issue seriously and researching it
thoroughly is of extreme importance and should be top priority for governments and people as well.
When a lot more resources and many private and public journals start exposing facts how they are,
far away from political or any other form of bias, the public can start making more educated choices
not mixed up with conspiracy theories, instead they will make up their minds based on facts, and
then we can truly respect and not feel bad for their decisions.
Alhazmi, A., Alamer, E., Daws, D., Hakami, M., Darraj, M., Abdelwahab, S., Maghfuri, A.,
& Algaissi, A. (2021). Evaluation of Side Effects Associated with COVID-19
Vaccines in Saudi Arabia. Vaccines, 9(6), 674.
https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9060674

This study aimed to look at the side effects of the Covid-19 vaccines used in the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia. The vaccines approved there at the time of the research were only Pfizer-BioNtech and
Oxford-AstraZeneca one of which fall under the part I am proposing to research (Pfizer-BioNtech).
The research looked at around 500 participants with the median age being 26. The effect the
participants had on them after taking each dose was reviewed. The research found that the most
reported side effects were fatigue, pain at the injection site, fever, and headache. Another
interesting fact the researchers found was the most of these side effects were far more common
after the second dose instead of the first. Moreover, all these side effects were more commonly
reported by participants who took the Oxford-AstraZeneca rather than my main interest (Pfizer-
BioNtech). Furthermore, the research also found out that only a small percentage of the participants
needed to be admitted to a hospital after taking the vaccine. Finally, the research concluded that,
most of these side effects (even the more serious ones that required medical attention) only lasted
for a few hours and didn’t leave a lasting side effect after being dealt with. In addition, the research
also stated the fact that this research shouldn’t be looked at alone and that further research is
required on this subject with a bigger sample size to achieve more dependable results and longer-
term research to check the probable long-term effects.

This research conducted in 2021 in Saudi Arabia is one of the research projects that took into hand
the side effects of the Covid-19 vaccines and how severe can they be. As the research only looked at
two vaccines (Pfizer-BioNtech and Oxford-AstraZeneca) and my research proposal only is taking into
consideration one of them, I used the data here for the Pfizer-BioNtech part separately and had to
use various other research articles for the data about the Moderna vaccine. I used this article to
emphasize my point on the gap in the literature in the long-term effects department. As the
researches included themselves saying that further research is needed on that topic. Additionally,
this research helped me back up my point as using researches on the same vaccine but from different
countries and environments can help better authenticate the results and can help reduce factors like
bias, or the fact that some side effects might only occur under specific environmental conditions or
only on a specific race. To sum up, this research is an example on the numerous research articles
made on the side effects of the big vaccines, although like most of the other research projects on this
topic it didn’t look onto the possibility of some form of long-term side effect. This supports my point
for the research proposal and was cited in my literature review.