Public Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices toward Seasonal Influenza Vaccine in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Objectives: Increasing national influenza vaccination rates continues to be a challenge for Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the Saudi public perceptions toward seasonal influenza vaccination and their association with the rate of vaccination. Methods: Individuals aged 15 years and older were surveyed about their knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward the seasonal influenza vaccine using a previously developed and validated 19-item online questionnaire. The impact of the participants’ perceptions toward the seasonal influenza vaccine on their past influenza vaccination history was assessed using multiple linear regressions. Results: The rate of regular vaccination among the 790 surveyed participants was 12.65%, and those who were aged <24 years had the highest rate (57%). The vast majority of the participants with chronic diseases (>90%) reported irregular vaccination histories against seasonal influenza. Participants who believed that the influenza vaccine is safe (β = 3.27; 95% CI: 2.067 to 5.171; p <0.001), efficacious (β = 2.87; 95% CI: 1.834 to 4.498; p <0.001), should be given during a specific time in the year (β = 1.821; 95% CI: 1.188 to 2.789; p = 0.0059), and were aware of their need to get vaccinated against the seasonal influenza (β = 2.781; 95% CI: 1.254 to 6.188; p = 0.0119) were more likely to have received the vaccine. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that the rate of seasonal influenza vaccination is low among the Saudi population, which necessitates the launching of public awareness campaigns about the importance of the seasonal influenza vaccine.

"Knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards the influenza vaccine among adult population in Plovdiv, Bulgaria"

“…We found an association between the higher education of the respondents and the possibility for administration of an influenza vaccine (2=27.002, p=0.00002), which correlates with studies of other authors 26 . It might seem intuitive that higher education predisposes to a higher vaccination rate, but in the literature this theory is inconsistent.…”

“…Similarly, an Australian study found that in the general population the two most stated reasons for not accepting the vaccine were "situation is not serious enough" and "I am not at risk" 32 . The positive view toward the influenza vaccine safety and efficacy has been identified as strongly associated with higher rates of vaccine uptake 26 . The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control studied the so-called "vaccine hesitancy" phenomenon and determined that the major determinants for opposition to vaccination were concerns about vaccine safety and mistrust of the pharmaceutical industry [33][34][35] .…”

Knowledge, attitude, and practice of seasonal influenza and influenza vaccine immunization among people visiting primary healthcare centers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

“…Such a finding was in accordance with Alqahtani et al (2017), who reported that HCWs were the main source of information [ 11 ]. However, other studies ranked mass media as the first and HCWs as the third source of vaccine information for the general Saudi population [ 14 , 17 ].…”

“…Female and lower age groups were found to have lower levels of knowledge of influenza and influenza vaccines [ 16 ]. Another cross-sectional study involved 790 Saudi citizens from the general population and showed that the participants who believed the influenza vaccine to be safe, efficacious, given at a specific time of the year and were aware of the need to be vaccinated were more likely to have received the vaccine [ 17 ]. A study by Alabbad et al (2018), which enrolled three groups (adult patients, parents, and HCWs) of 300 Saudis, showed that the most common reasons for vaccination were awareness campaigns and being medical staff (36%).…”

What Has Changed in the Behaviors of the Public After the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Cross-Sectional Study From the Saudi Community Perspective

“…Preliminary literature reported that the gap or lack of knowledge of chronic diseases can increase morbidity and mortality ( 12 ). However, a number of studies evaluated the knowledge, attitudes, and practice on previous pandemics, such as malaria ( 13 ), intestinal parasitic infection ( 14 ), and influenza ( 15 , 16 ). Until now, there are still limited studies that evaluated behavioral changes toward COVID-19 from a community perspective.…”