COVID-19 vaccine knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and uptake among healthcare workers of Pune district, Maharashtra

Abstract

Background Healthcare workers play a vital role in vaccine promotion and acceptance through community dialogue, education, and myth-busting. Vaccinated healthcare workers will likely recommend the vaccine to their families and community. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted with healthcare workers (n=357) to understand their knowledge, attitudes, perceptions, and acceptance of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine. The study was conducted in two blocks (Haveli and Velhe) of Pune, Maharashtra. Results The findings showed that over 90% of healthcare workers knew about COVID-19 vaccination and had a positive attitude towards COVID-19 vaccination. Among them, vaccine uptake was high (93% with two doses and 4% with a single dose). 98% of healthcare workers believed that vaccine is safe to use. However, few gaps existed around vaccine safety, side effects and allergic reactions, as 27.7% believed that the COVID-19 vaccine could increase the risk of allergic reactions, 51.8% believed that acquiring natural immunity by contacting the virus is better than vaccination, 16.5% believed that it is possible to reduce the incidence of COVID-19 without vaccination, 28.9% believed that vaccine might have side effects and 14% believed vaccine is not the most likely way to control the pandemic. Conclusions Addressing the existing gaps and reinforcing the relevance of the COVID-19 vaccine through a structured program is critical to empower health workers to disseminate accurate information to the community, consecutively improve vaccination uptake, and boost vaccination efforts in India.

Community Health Volunteers’ experiences of implementing COVID-19 vaccine education and promotion in Kenya: a qualitative descriptive study

“…Through being prioritized, they were able to role-model being vaccinated and encourage communities to also do the same. Similarly, in other contexts, by highlighting the importance of COVID-19 vaccines and showing confidence in them, CHWs positively impacted community uptake ( 4 , 14 ), with evidence supporting that vaccinated healthcare workers are more likely than unvaccinated ones to encourage the public to receive vaccination ( 14 , 39 ). CHVs also engaged with the community as trusted members to deliver accurate information on COVID-19 vaccination uptake and sharing success stories of CHVs who had received the vaccine was important in increasing vaccination uptake and counteracting unfavorable narratives.…”

“…In Kenya, Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) played a key role in COVID-19 vaccine outreach and as part of the frontline health workforce, they promoted uptake through community engagement and mobilization, but their perspectives are underrepresented in the literature on their experiences and contributions to the pandemic response. There is evidence on how the knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of CHWs regarding COVID-19 vaccination influenced vaccine hesitancy ( 12 , 14 , 15 ). However, less is known about the experiences of CHWs in conducting COVID-19 vaccination outreach in their communities.…”

Mapping of Public Approach towards COVID-19 Vaccine for Preparedness and Resilience of Emerging Threats to Facilitate Cross-Country Systematic Roll-Out of Resources

“…Few studies were carried out at the community level for specific states (33,34,35,36,37,38,39). There were a couple of studies focused on healthcare workers to understand their perception of the COVID-19 vaccine (40,41).…”

Mapping of Public Approach towards COVID-19 Vaccine for Preparedness and Resilience of Emerging Threats to Facilitate Cross-Country Systematic Roll-Out of Resources

“…Few studies were carried out at the community level for specific states [16]. There were a couple of studies focused on healthcare workers to understand their perception of the COVID-19 vaccine [17].…”