Awareness of COVID-19, Protective Measures and Attitude Towards Vaccination among University of Jeddah Health Field Community: A Questionnaire-Based Study

Abstract

This cross-sectional study aimed to measure the awareness, and attitude towards COVID-19 disease as well as new vaccine acceptance, among health field community (healthcare workers, health fields teaching staff and students) at the University of Jeddah, Jeddah Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire was designed in English language and included a set of 44 multiple-choice close-ended questions that covered demographic profile of participants, awareness of symptoms and practice against COVID-19. It also included a set of questions that attempted to investigate the attitudes and perceptions towards the uptake of vaccine. Out of the total 186 who participated in this study, 48.4% were 24 years old or younger and 55.9% were health field students. The results showed that majority of participants were aware of most common symptoms and causes of COVID-19 and had positive attitude toward the protective measures against the disease. Regarding the acceptability of vaccination against COVID-19, around 44% of the total participants showed hesitancy to uptake the vaccine of whom, 68.3% were concerned about the adverse effects of the vaccine. Significant differences were found between gender and current position at university of Jeddah in term of vaccine acceptance with p-values of < 0.001. Despite this high level of awareness, health field community at the university of Jeddah have medium acceptance level of disease vaccine. Thus, health educational programs are important to increase the acceptance level among such societies which will contribute to increase the acceptance level among the whole society.

Public acceptability of COVID-19 vaccines and its predictors in Middle ‎Eastern/North African (MENA) countries: a systematic review‎

“…The results of included studies imply that generally, women hesitate more for getting vaccinated. Studies with a male percent of more than 40% reported a significantly higher rate of vaccine acceptability than most of the studies involving more women, 36–38 , 40–42 , 43 However, the intriguing point is that some exception studies that, despite involving more women, demonstrated a high rate of acceptability, 50 , 51 surprisingly sometimes even higher than other studies. 52 …”

“…Males tended to have higher acceptability rates compared to the women, 36–38 , 40–43 Patients with underlying conditions that found themselves at higher risk of severe COVID-19 had better acceptability for the COVID-19 vaccines. 44 , Participants involved in healthcare services tend to have a higher vaccine acceptability rate compared to other groups.…”

“…Being concerned about the risk of contracting COVID-19 infection, especially among those with chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, contributed significantly to the willingness to get vaccinated. 30 , 35 , 38 , 40 , 46 Another contributing factor has been the strong urge to help eradicate the COVID-19 pandemic and recommence everydaylife 21 , 41 , 42 , 48 by achieving herd immunity through vaccination. Moreover, Burhamah et al and Fares et al reported a tendency to travel as a criticalfactor in increasing vaccine acceptability.…”

“… Not wantingto be challenged bythe virus (54.7%), fear (40.7%), lack of time (40.4%), and mistrust in pharmaceutical companies (38.9%) Reasons: Tendency to return to normal life (73.2%) and help to find a treatment for COVID-19 (68.1%) Higher education was associated with lower willingness. 15 Carina Kasrine Al Halabi 40 , 56 Lebanon 579 24.94 ± 9.45 23.8% 30.7% Pregnant or chronic disease 30.7% 40.4% Complementary or less 6%, secondary 14.5%, university 79.4% 21.4% 40.9% refused to receive vaccine. Being female and being married were significantly associated with lower odds of agreeing with vaccination.…”

“…males accept vaccination more than females. 27 Fayed, A.A. 40 Saudi Arabia 1539 ≥18 years old 41.4% Diabetes, Hypertension, asthma, Cardiac diseases. 19.5% Minimal schooling 20.2%, University 65%, and higher education 14.8%.…”