Anitha Tingira

The WHO identifies that effective vaccination is critical to ending COVID-19 pandemic and encourages high uptake of the vaccines. However, non-acceptance and hesitancy to vaccinate are the main challenges to achieving the desired goal in many countries including Tanzania. Most studies conducted to understand the uptake of the vaccines emphasize on detailed analyses of complex contextual specific factors that shape uptake. Tanzania had initially rejected the vaccines but rolled out the first batch of vaccines in July 2021. Currently, there are no studies that have looked at the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines in the country. Taking into account socio-cultural, political and historical factors, this study seeks to ethnographically examine and analyze how vaccination against COVID-19 is understood and experienced in local moral worlds by individuals and communities in Tanzania, and how such understandings and experiences shape their decisions regarding the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines.