COVID-19 vaccine acceptance by health care personnel in Pune city, Maharashtra

 

 

Abstract              Background: The global pandemic Covid-19 is a communicable disease caused by SARS - CoV-2. Health care professionals are at high risk of getting Covid-19 infection as frequency and duration of contact with Covid-19 positive patients is very high as compared to general population, so protection of health care workers should be the first priority. The aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence of Covid-19 vaccine acceptance and reluctance, and socio-demographic and other factors associated with it. Material and Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in Feb 2021. Google forms containing structured questionnaire of this study was sent to health care workers working in Pune city through email/what’s app and though text massage. Important socio-demographic characteristics like age, gender, occupation, income, marital status, h/o comorbidities, desire, acceptance, reluctance and reason for not getting Covid-19 vaccine are questioned. Results: In the study, 412 HCWs participated and completed the questionnaire, including 235 (57.04%) men and 177 (42.96%) women (Table 1). Most participants were in the range of 18-30 years of age (49.51%). Most participants were doctors (77.19%). About 67.72% of HCWs were vaccinated for Covid 19. HCWs with comorbidities were only 12.62 % and rest i.e. 87.38 % had no comorbidities. Among all HCWs 19.42% were tested positive previously and 80.56% were negative for Covid-19. HCWs having family member suffered from Covid-19 were of 26.75%. HCWs about 36.89% were strongly agreed that vaccine will prevent them from complications of Covid-19 disease, only 4.12% were disagreed and 0.48 strongly disagreed for the same. About 54.85 % of HCWs were strongly agreed that vaccination is important for health of others in their community and nearly 48.30 % of HCWs were completely confident in using local manufacture Covid-19 vaccine while 23.3 % of HCWs showed confidence in foreign (imported) vaccine. About 45.87 % of HCWs agreed that vaccine will protect them from Covid-19 disease. Conclusion: Acceptance of Covid-19 vaccine is varied among HCWs by their age group, education, occupation and income. Knowledge about the vaccine should be increased in HCWs about the Covid-19 vaccine so as to increase vaccination coverage in HCWs as well as general population.

 

INTRODUCTION

Covid-19 is a communicable disease caused by SARS-CoV -2. This disease was spread very rapidly all over the world, so WHO declared it as global pandemic on 11 March 2020(1). As on 01^st Feb 2021 this pandemic had 102 million confirmed cases and 2.2 million deaths all over the world.²As of 1^st Feb 2021, In India 10.7 million confirmed cases and 0.154 million deaths. There are 46312 active cases and cumulative deaths are 51082 in the state of Maharashtra as of 1^stfeb 2021. (3). In Pune city there are 186204 confirmed positive cases and 4766 confirmed deaths of Covid-19 till 1^stfeb 2021 (4). Pune is the second city in the Maharashtra state after Mumbaito breach the 1000 cases. It took 47 days for Pune to cross 1000 casessince it reports its first two cases on March 9, 2020.⁵Health care professionals are at high risk of getting Covid-19 infection as frequency and duration of contact with Covid-19 positive patients is very high as compared to general population so protection of health care workers should be the first priority .Many preventive measures like hand sanitization, wearing mask and social distancing are helpful in preventing the Covid-19 disease but to reduce mortality and morbidity, vaccination is most essential public health intervention.⁶ In developing country like India, even about routine immunization there are many myths and rumors and as Covid-19 vaccines were approved by CENTRAL DRUG STANDARD CONTROL ORGANIZATION (CDSCO) as an emergency use approval, so misconception about these vaccines are more. Because of incomplete information and various rumors in social media about vaccination, vaccine reluctance has become major obstacle in Covid-19 vaccination. Identifying, understanding, and addressing vaccine acceptance (i.e. a position ranging from passive acceptance to active demand),⁷ and vaccine hesitance and resistance (i.e. the positions where one is unsure about taking a vaccine or where one is absolutely against taking a vaccine) (8) to a vaccine for COVID-19 is, therefore, a potentially important step to ensure the rapid and requisite uptake of an eventual vaccine. As HCWs having more knowledge about risk and adverse effects of new vaccine compared to general population, so there seems to be some vaccine hesitancy among healthcare workers. The first human clinical trial of a COVID-19 vaccine commenced on March 3rd, 2020 in the United States, Based on Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), vaccine hesitancy is the term used to describe: “delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccination despite availability of vaccination services”.⁹ Factors that affect the attitude towards acceptance of vaccination include complacency, convenience and confidence [9, 10]. Complacency denotes the low perception of the disease risk; hence, vaccination deemed unnecessary. Confidence refers to the trust in vaccination safety, effectiveness, besides the competence of the healthcare systems. Convenience entails the availability, affordability and delivery of vaccines in a comfortable context.¹⁰

 

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This was an observational cross sectional study, conducted in February 2021. The structured questionnaire in English language and in local language(Marathi) was designed on the Google Form platform. This Google formwas sent to health care workers working in Pune city through email/what’s app or though text massage. Permission of Institute Ethics Committee (IEC) was taken (IEC Ref No.BJGMC/IEC/Pharmac/ND-Dept. 0221070-070). All participants were informed about the objectives of the study and their right whether to choose to participate or not to participate in the study. A written informed consent was obtained from all participants by sending it through Google forms. Full confidentiality of respondent’s information was kept and information was used only for research purpose. Questionnaires were divided into 3 sections, section A comprising of questions related to socio-demographic profile, section B included questions related to acceptance of Covid-19 vaccine and section C comprising the questions related to reluctance of Covid-19 vaccine. The survey assessed socio-demographic profile of Health Care Workers (HCWs), their acceptance and reluctance regarding Covid-19 vaccine. The data was tabulated and analyzed using Epi Info and MS Excel. Descriptive statistics (percentage, mean, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum) were used to describe socio-demographics characteristics.

 

RESULTS

In this study, total of 412 HCWs participated and completed the questionnaire, including 235 (57.04%) male and 177 (42.96%) female (Table 1). Mean age of the participant was 33.7+12.1 years, ranges from 18 to 72 years; most participants (49.51%) were in the range of 18-30 years of age. Most participants were doctors (77.19%). About 67.72% of HCWs were vaccinated for Covid-19. Among all responses 57.04 % were graduates and 23.54% were post graduates, response of private practitioner was of 14.81%. About 39.56 % of HCWs had income between 50 thousands to 1 lac and 24.51% had income more than 1lac.

About 67.72 % of HCWs were vaccinated for Covid-19 vaccine (Figure 1).

Among the 412 HCWs, 52(12.62%)had one and or the other comorbidity.

Among all HCWs, 80 (19.42%) were tested positive previously for Covid-19. Family members of 110 (26.75%) HCWs had suffered from Covid-19. When asked to rate their health on their own, then about 295 (71.6 %) HCWs rated their health as very good and 49 (11.89%) HCWs rated as excellent.

When the acceptance of Covid vaccine related questions/information were asked to HCWs, about 152 (36.89%) were strongly agreed that vaccine will prevent them from complications of Covid-19 disease, only 17 (4.12%) were disagreed and 2 (0.48%) strongly disagreed for the same (Table 3). About 226 (54.85 %) of HCWs were strongly agreed that vaccination is important for health of others in their community and nearly 199 (48.30 %) of HCWs were completely confident in using local manufactured Covid 19 vaccine while 96 (23.3 %) of HCWs showed confidence in foreign (imported) vaccine. More than half 212 (51.45%) of HCWs think that vaccine came too early. About 29.32 % of HCWs said that they didn’t take vaccine because they want to prefer wait and watch to see its effect on others (table 4). About 68.68% HCWs were disagreed that they would not need vaccine if they already suffered Covid disease.Nearly 42.71% HCWs were disagreed that Covid 19 vaccine would interfere their usual activities. About 45.87 % of HCWs agreed that vaccine will protect them from Covid-19 disease.

 

 

 

 

 

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