PONE-D-22-05839Determinants of personal vaccination hesitancy before and after the COVID-19 outbreak in TaiwanPLOS ONE

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PLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments:

Dear Authors,

Thanks for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. Your manuscript was reviewed by two esteemed reviewers and the reports are available.

Minor revisions required as provided by the two esteemed reviewers.

Address these issues point-wise and resubmit the revised manuscript highlighting the changes with both track changes and color highlighted text in the manuscript.

Regards,

Srikanth Umakanthan

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Thanks a lot for the opportunity to review this interesting and timely manuscript.

In this study, Hsuan-Wei Lee et al, investigated COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Taiwan and its associated factors.

This is a timely study considering the recent record number of COVID-19 cases in Taiwan.

The study design is robust, and the authors used a cross-sectional national survey before and during the first noticeable increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in Taiwan between March 2021 and May 2021 to assess the attitude of the general population to COVID-19 vaccination with a large sample size.

Overall, the manuscript is well-written, and the findings represent a significant contribution to the field of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.

The manuscript is well organized and is comprehensively described and it was written in correct and readable language.

The research design was proper, the methods were adequately described, the results were presented clearly with sufficient Tables, and the conclusions were supported by the results.

Importantly, the potential limitations were presented clearly by the authors.

Minor comments:

1. The authors can benefit from revising the title which can be a bit vague for the readers from countries where the first wave (outbreak) of COVID-19 occurred in the first half of 2020 rather than 2021.

2. In the Introduction section, lines 9-18, the authors can benefit from two additional reference on COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rates worldwide and in Taiwan:

A. https://doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S347669

B. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18115579

3. In the Introduction section, lines 33-37, the authors can benefit from adding more information regarding the number of cases and mortalities that occurred during the first wave (if it can be called so) of COVID-19 in Taiwan in May 2021

4. In the Introduction section, line 39: please add a reference to support this statement

5. In Figure 1, please add the reference from which this relevant data was retrieved.

6. In Table 1, please add a footnote to spell out the abbreviations (e.g. WHO). The same applies for Table 2 (USD)

7. In the Discussion section, the authors can benefit from adding a paragraph to compare the acceptance rate to COVID-19 vaccination in Taiwan to that in neighbouring countries which were much higher (e.g. China 82%, South Korea 77%) using the aforementioned reference: https://doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S347669

Reviewer #2: Comments to the Author

My comments are as follows:

1. Abstract- Well structured and summarizes the overall purpose of the study and the research problem(s) investigated. The basic design of the study; major findings and trends found as a result of the study is also showcased.

2. Materials and methods- The authors have included a proper survey questionnaire along with the assessment scale to analyze their objectives.

3. Statistics: The involvement of regression methods (logistic and linear models) provides clearance of bias that may have generated by the different variables. The confounding/impending factors are well neutralized by the statistical methods.

4. Discussion: The discussion requires more additional statements with regards to the existing literature search. Include the following references and citations reflecting the COVID-19 updates to strengthen the manuscript:

- Origin and transmission (use reference and cite:  doi:10.1136/postgradmedj-2020-138234)

- To mention in brief about vaccines (use reference and cite: “doi: 10.1136/postgradmedj-2021-141365.

AND  doi:10.1136/postgradmedj-2021-140654”)

- Definition of vaccine resistance and hesitance (use reference and cite: doi:10.3390/vaccines9101064).

- Compare the global vaccine status and relate it with the current vaccine status (refer and cite:  doi:10.3934/publichealth.2021053)

5. Conclusion: The authors have shown the importance of variables that can influence the adherence of preventive measures and willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19.

The main bulletin messages showcases the summary of the manuscript very well.

I advocate this article for revision pending inclusion of the points as recommended by me.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Determinants of personal vaccination hesitancy before and after the mid-2021 COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan

PONE-D-22-05839R1

Dear Dr. Lee,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Srikanth Umakanthan

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Thanks for addressing all the previous comments properly and thoroughly.

The manuscript is well written and provides timely and important results.

Reviewer #2: The authors have addressed all of my comments and the manuscript now appears to be of sound nature and of acceptable standards in accordance with the journal requirements.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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