Evaluating Self-Reported Vaccination Hesitancy in Mobile Phone Surveys Performed in LMICs: Learned Lessons from Data in Four Low and Middle Income Countries

Abstract The large amount of data on COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy presents a unique opportunity to better understand COVID-19 vaccination uptake. However, the utility of this data is unclear, particularly, how representative the surveys are of general populations; how easy the data is to use; and how valid the outcome (intent to be vaccinated) is. We explore this in the World Bank’s High Frequency Phone Surveys (HFPS), which were conducted longitudinally in over 50 countries between 2020 and 2021. A subset of the HFPS contained questions on vaccination hesitancy. We compared the demographic results from four surveys against the most recent census to determine representativeness of sample; and vaccination intent/actual vaccination against government reported vaccination rates. While the surveys were generally representative of population sizes and rural/urban split, they tended to over-sample men and older people. The surveys also omitted several key indicators. We also found that self-reported vaccination was higher than actual vaccination rates. As such, it is important to consider challenges in the data. It is also important to consider the ease of data use. However, even when these challenges arise there are still opportunities for meaningful use of the data.