Uptake of COVID-19 vaccination and associated factors among patients attending oncology services at the Ocean Road Cancer Institute in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania: insights from mixed design methods’ trajectory

Background: COVID-19 vaccination campaigns have reduced disease severity and fatalities around the globe. Global data shows that 67.7% of the general population are vaccinated, and Tanzania has reported appealing findings of over 70% coverage among individuals over 18 years of age. However, a group-specific assessment of vaccination coverage is needed in sub-Saharan Africa. This study aimed at assessing the COVID-19 vaccination uptake and associated factors among cancer patients owing to their vulnerability. Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study design was conducted in September 2022 at Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. A multistage sampling approach was employed for quantitative data collection, combining stratified sampling to ensure the representation of cancer types and simple random sampling to select 479 cancer patients, and purposeful sampling was applied for qualitative data collection involving 26 patients. Data were analysed using the statistical software ‘R’ by logistic regression analysis to determine the association between socio-demographic, clinical, and Health Belief Model (HBM) variables against COVID-19 vaccine uptake among cancer patients. Results: A total of 402 (79.5%) participants were female with a mean age (± standard deviation) of 48 ± 12.4 years, ranging from 18 to 83 years. Approximately 58.2% (278/479) of the participants in the quantitative research reported to be vaccinated against COVID-19, and among them, 79.5% were females. After controlling for other variables, having secondary school education or higher education (Adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.26, 95% CI 1.20–4.27; p = 0.011), perception of COVID-19 vaccine (aOR 8.86, 95% CI 2.84–32.2; p < 0.001), and perceived severity of COVID-19 (aOR 0.56, 95% CI 0.36–0.87; p = 0.010) were significantly associated with vaccine uptake. In the qualitative part, the findings suggest that individuals’ beliefs, perceptions, and external factors play a role in their decision to vaccinate. Conclusions: The update of COVID-19 vaccine among cancer patients at ORCI was 58%; with patients’ higher education status, positive perception on the COVID-19 vaccine, and perceived disease severity being significantly associated with increased COVID-19 vaccination uptake. Public health interventions should leverage these identified factors to promote vaccine uptake by tailoring communication efforts to specific characteristics.