Factors associated with reluctancy to acquire COVID-19 vaccination: A cross-sectional study in Shiraz, Iran, 2022

Najmeh Maharlouei; Parisa Hosseinpour; Amirhossein Erfani; Reza Shahriarirad; Hadi Raeisi Shahrakie; Abbas Rezaianzadeh; Kamran Bagheri Lankarani

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0278967

Peer Review History

Original SubmissionSeptember 27, 2022
5 Oct 2022 Decision Letter - Srikanth Umakanthan, Editor PONE-D-22-26777Associated Factors of Reluctancy Toward COVID-19 Vaccination; A Cross-Sectional Study in Shiraz, Southern Iran PLOS ONE Dear Dr. Amirhossein Erfani, Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process. Please submit your revised manuscript by Nov 19 2022 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file. 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The PLOS ONE style templates can be found at https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=wjVg/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_main_body.pdf and https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=ba62/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_title_authors_affiliations.pdf 2. We suggest you thoroughly copyedit your manuscript for language usage, spelling, and grammar. If you do not know anyone who can help you do this, you may wish to consider employing a professional scientific editing service. Whilst you may use any professional scientific editing service of your choice, PLOS has partnered with both American Journal Experts (AJE) and Editage to provide discounted services to PLOS authors. Both organizations have experience helping authors meet PLOS guidelines and can provide language editing, translation, manuscript formatting, and figure formatting to ensure your manuscript meets our submission guidelines. 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Thank you for stating the following in the Acknowledgments Section of your manuscript: "This study was the subject of the MPH degree thesis for Parisa Hossseinpour and Amirhossein Erfani. The authors would like to thank the Vice Chancellor for Research of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences for financially supporting the project (Project code: 22574)." We note that you have provided funding information that is not currently declared in your Funding Statement. However, funding information should not appear in the Acknowledgments section or other areas of your manuscript. We will only publish funding information present in the Funding Statement section of the online submission form. Please remove any funding-related text from the manuscript and let us know how you would like to update your Funding Statement. Currently, your Funding Statement reads as follows: "Vice-chancellor for Research of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences financially supported this Study through Kamran Bagheri Lankarani (Grant No: 24974)." Please include your amended statements within your cover letter; we will change the online submission form on your behalf. 4. Your ethics statement should only appear in the Methods section of your manuscript. If your ethics statement is written in any section besides the Methods, please move it to the Methods section and delete it from any other section. Please ensure that your ethics statement is included in your manuscript, as the ethics statement entered into the online submission form will not be published alongside your manuscript. 5. Please include correct caption for figures. 6. Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice. Additional Editor Comments: The manuscript requires minor revisions as stated by the reviewers. Include a Point-to-point inclusion of the suggestions/comments to improvise the manuscript. [Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.] 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 ******** 2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? Reviewer #1: Yes Reviewer #2: Yes ****** 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 ****** 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 ****** 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: Well written manuscript that reflects the Associated Factors of Reluctancy Toward COVID-19 Vaccination in Iran. The manuscript can be strengthened by incorporating the following points: 1. Include a short note on the origin of COVID-19 (refer and cite: doi: 10.1136/postgradmedj-2020-138234 2. Compare the COVID-19 states in Iran with other regions (refer and cite: doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.844333) 3. The role of vaccination status that has declined the vaccine resistance rates(refer and cite: doi: 10.3390/vaccines9101064.) 4. How the Iranian government and health care has imbibed regulations to combat COVID-19 targeting its predictors (refer and cite: doi: 10.1136/postgradmedj-2021-141365) 5. The treatment of COVID-19 and its implications on the vaccine hesitancy (refer and cite: doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.742273. 6. Include other forms of representations in your figures (eg. Bar charts, histograms), color the images for better viewership. Reviewer #2: The authors have finely incorporated the Associated Factors of Reluctancy Toward COVID-19 Vaccination in Iran. Grammatical errors need to be corrected. Include illustrations or bar charts. The introduction is very verbose. Needs to be tapered. ****** 6. 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 ******** [NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.] While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278967.r001
Revision 1
23 Nov 2022 Author Response Journal Requirements: When submitting your revision, we need you to address these additional requirements. 1. Please ensure that your manuscript meets PLOS ONE's style requirements, including those for file naming. The PLOS ONE style templates can be found at https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=wjVg/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_main_body.pdf and https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=ba62/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_title_authors_affiliations.pdf Authors Response: We apologize for this inconvenience and have revised the manuscript based on the provided guidelines. 2. We suggest you thoroughly copyedit your manuscript for language usage, spelling, and grammar. If you do not know anyone who can help you do this, you may wish to consider employing a professional scientific editing service. Authors Response: Our manuscript has been revised by a Native English editor and we have attached the certificate for your reference. 3. Upon resubmission, please provide the following: ● The name of the colleague or the details of the professional service that edited your manuscript ● A copy of your manuscript showing your changes by either highlighting them or using track changes (uploaded as a supporting information file) ● A clean copy of the edited manuscript (uploaded as the new manuscript file) Authors Response: We have uploaded the mentioned files as requested. 4. Thank you for stating the following in the Acknowledgments Section of your manuscript: "This study was the subject of the MPH degree thesis for Parisa Hossseinpour and Amirhossein Erfani. The authors would like to thank the Vice Chancellor for Research of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences for financially supporting the project (Project code: 22574)." We note that you have provided funding information that is not currently declared in your Funding Statement. However, funding information should not appear in the Acknowledgments section or other areas of your manuscript. We will only publish funding information present in the Funding Statement section of the online submission form. Please remove any funding-related text from the manuscript and let us know how you would like to update your Funding Statement. Currently, your Funding Statement reads as follows: "Vice-chancellor for Research of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences financially supported this Study through Kamran Bagheri Lankarani (Grant No: 24974)." Please include your amended statements within your cover letter; we will change the online submission form on your behalf. Authors Response: We have moved the funding statement to the cover letter as requested. 5. Your ethics statement should only appear in the Methods section of your manuscript. If your ethics statement is written in any section besides the Methods, please move it to the Methods section and delete it from any other section. Please ensure that your ethics statement is included in your manuscript, as the ethics statement entered into the online submission form will not be published alongside your manuscript. Authors Response: We have moved the ethical consideration section to the method and material section as requested. 6. Please include correct caption for figures. Authors Response: We have adjusted and corrected the figure captions based on the journal’s guidelines. 7. Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice. Authors Response: We have revised the manuscript reference list based on the journal’s guidelines. Comments to the Author Dear Editor and Reviewers, Thanks for reaching out to us regarding the manuscript entitled “Associated Factors of Reluctancy Toward COVID-19 Vaccination; A Cross-Sectional Study in Shiraz, Southern Iran ". We believe that these comments have helped us enhance the quality of the manuscript. We also have done our best to revise and improve the paper according to the comments. Herewith, we provided the authors' responses to each comment right after each statement. Also, all the changes have been addressed in the manuscript through highlighted parts according to journal policies. • Reviewer #1: 1. Include a short note on the origin of COVID-19 (refer and cite: doi: 10.1136/postgradmedj-2020-138234 Authors’ Response: Thank you for your comment. A statement regarding the origin of COVID-19 has been added to the manuscript according to the provided reference. (Lines 44 – 51) 2. Compare the COVID-19 states in Iran with other regions (refer and cite: doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.844333) Author’s Response: Thank you for your comment and for providing us with this valuable article. A statement has been added to the manuscript addressing the economic effects of COVID-19. (Lines 47 – 51) 3. The role of vaccination status that has declined the vaccine resistance rates(refer and cite: doi: 10.3390/vaccines9101064.) Authors’ Response: Thank you for your comment. This article was referred to in the discussion section regarding the concerns for the post-vaccine scare of adverse health effects. (Discussion; lines 266 – 268) 4. How the Iranian government and health care has imbibed regulations to combat COVID-19 targeting its predictors (refer and cite: doi: 10.1136/postgradmedj-2021-141365) Authors’ Response: Thank you for the valuable comment. Since combating vaccine hesitancy might differ from one society to another, a statement regarding considering cultural beliefs and educational status was added to the manuscript. (Paragraph 2 Discussion section; lines 263 – 265; and Paragraph 4 discussion section; line 281 – 283) 5. The treatment of COVID-19 and its implications on the vaccine hesitancy (refer and cite: doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.742273. Authors’ Response: Thank you for your comment. Although we did not evaluate the effect of treatment on vaccine hesitancy, we have added this statement in the limitation section and also a statement regarding the practice of available medicines in combating the COVID-19 pandemic has been added to the manuscript (Lines 52 and 53). 6. Include other forms of representations in your figures (eg. Bar charts, histograms), color the images for better viewership. Authors’ Response: Thank you for your comment. Two more figures regarding the reasons of reluctancy toward vaccination and influencing the of participation in vaccination based on socio-economic status has been added to the manuscript (Figure 4 and 5). • Reviewer #2: 1. Grammatical errors need to be corrected. Authors’ Response: Thank you for your valuable comment. The manuscript has been revised in aspect of grammatical errors by a professional English editor. 2. Include illustrations or bar charts. Authors’ Response: Thank you for your comment. Two more figures regarding the reasons of reluctancy toward vaccination and influencing the of participation in vaccination based on socio-economic status has been added to the manuscript (Figure 4 and 5). 3. The introduction is very verbose. Needs to be tapered. Authors’ Response: Thank you for your comment and concern. Based on the first reviewers comments we were obligated to add some additional requested information. Furthermore, we believe that any tapering in the information provided in the introduction section will interrupt the continuity and understanding of the phases and line of thought for the general readers. However, if the honorable reviewer believes that a certain part of the introduction is abundant, we would gladly revise the mentioned section accordingly. Attachments Attachment Submitted filename: Response to Reviewers.docx https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278967.r002
25 Nov 2022 Decision Letter - Srikanth Umakanthan, Editor Factors associated with reluctancy to acquire COVID-19 vaccination: a cross-sectional study in Shiraz, Iran, 2022 PONE-D-22-26777R1 Dear Dr. Erfani, 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. An invoice for payment will follow shortly after the formal acceptance. To ensure an efficient process, please log into Editorial Manager at http://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/, click the 'Update My Information' link at the top of the page, and double check that your user information is up-to-date. If you have any billing related questions, please contact our Author Billing department directly at authorbilling@plos.org. If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org. Kind regards, Srikanth Umakanthan Academic Editor PLOS ONE Additional Editor Comments (optional): Accept in revised format Reviewers' comments: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278967.r003
Formally Accepted
2 Dec 2022 Acceptance Letter - Srikanth Umakanthan, Editor PONE-D-22-26777R1 Factors associated with reluctancy to acquire COVID-19 vaccination: a cross-sectional study in Shiraz,Iran, 2022 Dear Dr. Erfani: I'm pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLOS ONE. Congratulations! Your manuscript is now with our production department. If your institution or institutions have a press office, please let them know about your upcoming paper now to help maximize its impact. If they'll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team within the next 48 hours. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information please contact onepress@plos.org. If we can help with anything else, please email us at plosone@plos.org. Thank you for submitting your work to PLOS ONE and supporting open access. Kind regards, PLOS ONE Editorial Office Staff on behalf of Dr. Srikanth Umakanthan Academic Editor PLOS ONE https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278967.r004

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