The outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) caused significant economic and social impacts, leading to the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. However, COVID-19 vaccination uptake has been low across Nigeria; therefore, this study investigated the impact of COVID-19 vaccine refusal in Riverine areas (Asari-Toru and Degema LGAs) in Rivers State. This study adopted a sample size of 400 respondents, to whom well-structured questionnaires were shared, and the collected data were analysed and presented using frequency, percentage, and mean. Result of the study showed that 5705% of the respondents were female, while 42.95 were male; majority of the respondents were: aged 46 – 55 (35.9%), married (52.56%), civil servant (39.74%), Christians (76.92%), educated (42.31% had tertiary education while 32.05% had secondary education), and had received at least one dose of any of the available COVID-19 vaccines (71.15%) while 28.85% were not vaccinated. Unvaccinated respondents cited belief that COVID-19 is not real or serious, fear of side effects/infertility/death, vaccine not being readily available and preference for herbal/traditional medicine, respectively, religious belief and distrust in Government, and attitude of community leaders as main reasons for COVID-19 vaccine refusal/hesitancy; perceived impact of vaccine refusal in the community included negative impacts on the health of people in the community, continued fear of outbreak, restriction of movement/trade, loss of income, school closure, and death of family members. The study concluded that COVID-19 vaccine refusal/hesitancy
has a negative impact on communities in riverine areas.
