Ghana was the first country in the world to receive the coronavirus vaccine under the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative. Despite the vaccination longevity, as of March 2024, 44.3% of Ghanaians had received two COVID-19 vaccines, with vaccine hesitancy reported at 52.2%. This research aims to determine factors associated with vaccine hesitancy among farmers and identify strategies to improve the acceptance and uptake of the coronavirus vaccine in Northern Ghana.

The study design adopted for this project is the concurrent embedded mixed methods design, which simultaneously collects qualitative and quantitative data. This study prioritizes qualitative over quantitative data, meaning the quantitative data are embedded. This research will include urban and rural participants in northern Ghana. The sampling of participants will be purposive and snowballing. Firstly, the researcher will invite participants through the WhatsApp mobile application to conduct interviews through phone calls. The estimated number of participants for the qualitative study is 30. Farmers will make up 24 (12 rural and 12 urban) participants to identify factors for vaccine hesitancy. Secondly, six stakeholders (directors of health services, public health officers, and health promotion officers) will be interviewed to examine the strategies that could promote the acceptance and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines in Northern Ghana. Braun & Clarke’s Reflexive Thematic Analysis, a six-phase process that includes; familiarization with the data, coding, generating initial themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and writing up, will be used for data analysis.