The willingness of the Saudi Arabian population to participate in the COVID-19 vaccine trial: A case-control study

Objectives: This study examines the Saudi Arabian population's willingness to participate in clinical trials for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine, comparing recovered cases' willingness with that of healthy volunteers.

Methods: A case-control study was conducted on the Saudi Arabian population during September 2020. The data were collected from recovered COVID-19 participants as the case group, and healthy volunteers as the control group.

Results: The data showed that 42.2% (n = 315) of recovered COVID-19 cases were more willing to participate in the COVID-19 vaccine trial than healthy volunteers (299; 38.1%) with a p < 0.001. The proportion of the participants who were willing to donate plasma was significantly higher among recovered participants, 84.2% (n = 112), than healthy volunteers, 76.3% (n = 87), with a p < 0.0001. The most significant factor responsible for a willingness to participate was the belief that vaccine discovery would help scientific developments (r = 0.525 and 0.465 for case and control, respectively). In comparison, significant reasons behind the unwillingness to participate were the risk of exposure to an unproven vaccine, r = 0.377 and 0.497 for case and control, respectively (p < 0.001), and a discomfort with being treated as an experimental subject (r = 0.275 and 0.374 for case and control, respectively).

Conclusions: The differences in readiness toward the COVID-19 vaccine trial in our study does not indicate any passive exposure of participants to an unproven clinical trial vaccine, nor does it shed light on well-informed risk-related decisions. However, certain factors can significantly influence decision-making while contributing toward clinical research. This study's results must not be used for the individuals' recruitment bias in a COVID-19 vaccine trial.