Public awareness and acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine: An online cross-sectional survey, conducted in the first phase of vaccination drive in India

Abstract

The context-specific, complex issue of ‘vaccine hesitancy’ is explicated in terms of delay or refusal of vaccination despite the availability of vaccine services. Although eleven million beneficiaries were administered the COVID-19 vaccine in India from 16th January 2021 till 20th February 2021, however, proportionately a low turnout has been registered in various parts of the country, possibly attributable to hesitance/apprehension towards the current vaccination. In this backdrop, we report the response (collected between Feb 1, 2021 and Feb 15, 2021) of 358 voluntary respondents who participated in an online questionnaire-based pan-India survey, executed to assess their knowledge and acceptance towards the current COVID-19 vaccination program in its first phase. The survey questionnaire consisted of demographic characteristics of the respondents and queries pertaining to knowledge (7 items) and acceptance (3 items). The overall correct rate and the average knowledge score of the participants were 78 % and 5.46 ± 1.4/7 respectively. The acceptance score was 3.50 ± 1.6/5 while 70 % of participants agreed against the 20 % of respondents who neither agreed nor disagreed to take the vaccine. Around 66 % believed that the vaccines, currently being administered in India are safe. Fear about possible side effects (44 %) and inadequacy of comprehensive clinical trial data (29 %), seemed to be the major players in fortifying the vaccine hesitancy among the respondents, exhibiting negative acceptance. Although maximum respondents demonstrated a good level of knowledge (82%) and acceptance (88%), significant differences were observed among some demographic variables. In general, a positive correlation was observed between knowledge and acceptance against a negative correlation, observed in specific provinces. Despite the good acceptance and knowledge, a considerable fraction of the participants (30%) expressed hesitancy. Counselling, mobilization, and feedback from vaccinated individuals about safety should be encouraged. However, due to the limited sample size, we must be cautious when generalizing these findings. Nevertheless, the major elucidations of this study may be utilized in planning vaccination campaigns in further phases.

A Cross-Sectional Study on Acceptance and Post-Vaccination Symptoms of Covid-19 Vaccination in India

“…In total 1035 respondents, only 1016 respondents' provided consent to participate in the study but 19 respondents did not give consent so finally, we included the 1016 respondents for our study to make the results. In total 1016 respondents, 52% are male and 47.6% are female; this shows that almost equal representation of either gender was registered which is supported by the study conducted by Arumuganair [4].…”

“…The participation was primarily documented from 26 states with maximum representation from 40.9% from Karnataka, 10.9% from Andhra Pradesh, 8.3% from West Bengal, 6.6% from Telangana, 4.2% from Tamil Nadu, and rest from remaining states. Majority of the participants are from urban area these results were supported by the study conducted by Arumuganair [4] and comorbidity conditions show that 88.1% of respondents do not have any health problem.…”

“…Table 1 shows that majority of respondents were in the age group of 18-27, and most of them are undergraduates, these results were supported by the study conducted by Arumuganair (4). More than half of the respondents were students, followed by 11.6% are health care workers, 9.4% are freelancers, and 8.7% are householders, respectively.…”

“…In India, CoviShield manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and Covaxin manufactured by Bharat Biotech Limited are the two vaccines that have been granted emergency use authorization by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO). In the initial launching phase of the vaccination program, the beneficiaries were advised to receive two doses at a minimum time gap of 28 days [4].…”

Attitude towards COVID-19 vaccination among the public in Kerala

“…[ 4 5 18 ] Other two similar studies conducted in India reported about 70% were willing to get vaccinated, where the inclination is less than that reported in the present study. [ 3 19 ] A cross-sectional study conducted in Kerala among 213 participants reported 80.2% were ready to take vaccine. [ 20 ]…”