Knowledge, perception, and acceptance toward the booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine among patients visiting dental clinics in Aseer region of KSA

Abstract

Scientists have emerged with innovative research on non-human primates showing that the booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine increases neutralizing antibody levels against all variants. The current cross-sectional survey was designed to evaluate the knowledge, perception, and acceptance of the booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine among the patients visiting the various dental clinics in Aseer region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A total of 609 dental patients were selected from various dental clinics by a simple random probability sampling method. The questionnaire was designed in multiple languages and categorized as demographic information, knowledge, perception, and acceptance of participants to a booster dose. An anonymous, self-administered, closed-ended online, and paper-based questionnaire was used to assess the above parameters. In the current survey, the majority of the participants were Saudis (80.8%) with an age mean of 37.7 ± 8.7 years. About 68.6% (418 out of 609) of participants had poor knowledge about the booster dose. Significant differences in the levels of knowledge were found in relation to gender, area of residency, education, nationality, and occupation. The distribution of level of perception of booster dose differs significantly among participants of different marital statuses and nationalities. Hesitation to booster was reported more in the rural than in the urban population. Despite a low level of knowledge, a higher level of good perception and acceptance of booster doses were reported among the studied population.

Knowledge and attitude toward COVID-19 booster dose among health care professionals in Nepal: a cross-sectional study

“…A study conducted in UAE demonstrated that around 55.0% of people involved in the health care profession demonstrated good knowledge of COVID-19 booster dose vaccine which was significantly higher in comparison to other professions 17 . In a study conducted among the general population, only about 31% of participants demonstrated good knowledge about the booster dose 18 . This is not surprising as health care workers are likely to have more exposure to information and education about the vaccine due to their professional training and daily work environment.…”

Knowledge, acceptance, motivators and barriers of booster dose of COVID-19 vaccination among dental patients: A cross-sectional study

“…In the current study, 48.3% of people > 50 years received all 3 doses of COVID vaccine which is almost similar to another study where 40% of people > 60 years have no hesitancy toward COVID-19 booster dose. [ 4 ] In a recent survey administered with a web-based form to 614 Italian dentists and hygienists, a higher number of the respondents interviewed (99.9%) received the COVID-19 vaccine. [ 31 ] In the present study, 70% of participants living in urban areas received all 3 doses of the vaccine.…”

“…Another study conducted in Saudi Arabia showed that 48.1% of people have a hesitancy to get the vaccine, 60.8 % recommended a booster dose to others which is double the present study and 47 % of people wanted to get immunity after infection. [ 4 ] Parents of young children also have hesitancy about the COVID-19 vaccine for their children. [ 55 ] A study conducted in the US also showed that 75.5% of parents were hesitant to vaccination of their children.…”

“…So, the booster dose is effective in preventing infection as well as the complications of COVID-19 Disease. [ 4 ] A recent study indicated that the effectiveness of 2-dose BNT162b2 (mRNA) and ChAdOx1 (adenovirus vector) vaccines remained as high as 88% and 67%, respectively, among patients with the Delta variant. [ 5 ] In the other laboratory study, it revealed that the antibodies produced by mRNA vaccines still offered protection against the B.1.351 (beta) and B.1.1.7 (alpha) variants, but the protection was much less strong.…”